TRUE HEROISM; 

AND 

Other Sermons. 



By R. N. SLEDD, 

OF 

The Virginia Annual Conference, 

M. E. CHURCH SOUTH. 



PUBLISHED BY 
THE B. F. JOHNSON PUBLISHING COMPANY, 
RICHMOND. VA. 



1899. 



THE LIBRARY 
OF CONGRESS 

[WASHINGTON 



39476 

Copyrighted 
By R. N. SeEdd. 
1899. 




LC 



control ^er 




tmp^ 6 



031/70° 



3 



PREFATORY. 



This volume is given to the public in compliance with a 
formal request which was signed by about thirty members, 
chiefly younger members, of the Virginia Annual Conference. 
As I have written comparatively few sermons during my minis- 
try the preparation of the manuscripts has entailed very consid- 
erable labor. But it has been done with cheerfulness in the hope 
and with the prayer that God's name may be glorified by it. 
May He make it a blessing to some soul. 

A number of friends have written to me requesting the inser- 
tion of particular sermons which they have heard. In some 
instances I have complied; in others I could not, because the 
sermons had gone from my memory, and I had no notes to aid 
me in recalling them. 

The reader is indebted to a suggestion of the enterprising 
Publishers for the plates of the church edifices in which the 
author has ministered. The history of his life is inseparable 
from these churches. All the sermons in this volume have been 
delivered in one or other of them. May God's blessing be upon 
these and all His churches. If this volume shall contribute 
anything to their enrichment and consolation in Christ my most 
earnest desire will be realized, my prayer answered. 

R. N. SLEDD. 

Danville, Va., April /o, 1899. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The spoken word is the primary means of all commerce of 
ideas; for long it was the only means of such commerce, and it 
will ever remain the most powerful. The printed page cannot 
preserve the living voice with its sympathetic tones which inform 
the words with the spirit of the speaker; which give power to 
argument and invitation; which wing with fire the denunciations 
of sin, and fill with sweet constraint appeals to the conscience 
and the will. But when the voice that spoke is hushed, and the 
living form is hid by distance or by death, those who have heard 
would keep the thoughts that breathed in word and life. The 
man cannot be held forever, but the "art preservative" may 
hold the thoughts, as the coal deposits hold the sun's rays, mute 
and passive until touched by the living mind of another when 
they live again, not in the same form or in equal power, but 
they live. On the shelves of our libraries stands that miracle of 
human art — shall we not say that marvelous fruitage of a divine 
gift — the best thoughts of the best thinkers sepulchred in the 
printed lines and ready with resurrection power to answer the 
call of soul to soul. 

The exacting cares of a large pastorate leave little time for 
writing; and especially is this the case in the itinerant Methodist 
ministry where frequent changes demand large time for pastoral 
visiting, yet those who enjoy the blessings which flow from the 
preaching of a beloved pastor, and profit by the truth made 
applicable to daily life, cannot but wish to have in more perma- 
nent form than memory affords the truth which has ministered 
to their larger view of God and salvation, and has led them into 
sweeter experiences of grace. It is not infrequently the case, 
on the other hand, that those who look deepest into the truths 
of the revealed word and feel most profoundly the needs of men 
are oppressed with a sense of the inadequacy of their own work 
in presenting that truth, and mourn the paucity of results that 

[5] 



6 



Introduction. 



follow from their labor, so that they shrink from the thought 
of putting their sermons in print. Such men are prone to under- 
estimate not the greatness of the truth which they would fain 
present in its power, but their own ability to bring that truth to 
the apprehension of others. Much that might have enriched 
the world has thus passed out of the currents of influence, and 
voices that were once potent for good have been hushed forever. 

The author of this volume of sermons is an extemporaneous 
preacher. He has been a member of the Virginia Conference 
for forty-two years, filling during that time the most important 
stations in the Conference, and always with large profit to the 
charges to which he has ministered. His custom has been to 
write notes of his sermons as he was preparing them, and these 
were not taken into the pulpit. The outlines of the sermon were 
in his mind, the robing of the thought in appropriate language 
was the work of the hour when the congregation was before him 
and the spell of that inspiration which every earnest man, 
charged with a message to his fellows, feels under such condi- 
tions. To reproduce sermons preached in this way is impossible. 
The photographer may fix the features accurately on the sensitive 
plate and catch the* expression of a moment, but he cannot repro- 
duce the play of expression which make the face a living thing. 
Writing, to one accustomed to extemporaneous speaking, is 
arduous, and there lacks the inspiration of high emotion when 
one sits down to put in cold lines on paper what burned on his 
lips awhile ago. Only the persistent importunities of friends 
who wished to see in print the sermons to which the} T had lis- 
tened with such pleasure and profit induced Dr. Sledd to give 
the public this volume. The reader will be glad that such impor- 
tunities prevailed. The clear style, the unaffected statement of 
the great truths of the Gospel, the directness with which the 
truth is pressed upon the heart and the conscience, the absence 
of all that would serve as mere ornament, make the word of life 
stand out in clear relief and leave the reader alone with the truth 
and Him whose word it is. 

A. COKE SMITH. 

Lynchburg, Va., April /o, iRgg. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction 5 

I. True Heroism 9 

II. The Certainty of the Gospel . ... 27 

III. The Word of Life 41 

IV. Repentance a Law 55 

V. Saul, the Pharisee 71 

VI. Saul, the Christian Convert 84 

VII. The Knowledge of the Forgiveness of Sin 99 

VIII. Strength in Joy 115 

IX. The Doctrine of the Seed 129 

X. Chosen to be a Builder 139 

XI. The Rechabite and the Christian 155 

XII. The Believer's Love of the Church 169 

XIII. The Righteousness of the Church 184 

XIV. The Abiding Graces 201 

XV. The True Circumcision 216 

XVI. The Majesty of Christ, the Antidote of Fear. . . 231 

XVII. The Sabbath Day 245 

XVIII. The Manifestation of the Sons of God 265 

XIX. Pentecost and Woman 285 

XX. Mary of Bethany; Her Love and Its Memorial. . 301 

XXI. Memorial of Bishop David S. Doggett, D. D 316 

XXII. Paul, the Christian Apostle 338 

XXIII. Judas Iscariot 353 

XXIV. The Second Coming of Christ 366 

XXV. The Last Sermon 382 

Biographical Sketch of Dr. R. N. Sledd 385 



True Heroism. x 



" But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in 
the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we 
cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." — Acts iv, 19, 20. 

" Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey 
God rather than men." — Acts v, 29. 

The attitude of Peter and John as here described 
is very impressive. In a worldly sense " they were 
unlearned and ignorant men." They were from an 
humble sphere in life, and had enjoyed none of the 
advantages of a liberal education. There was not a 
member of the Sanhedrim at whose bar they were 
arraigned, who was not far more deeply versed than 
they were in the law, in the traditions of the elders, and 
in the secular learning of the day. Nor had they any 
support from public opinion. Those in official station, 
both civil and ecclesiastical, and men of culture, 
wealth, and social position and influence, were almost 
without exception, hostile to them. They were the 
followers of One who but recently stood at the bar 
of this same court, and who, with its approval, had 
been crucified as a malefactor. It was but natural 
that the enmity that had persecuted him to the death 
should now be visited upon them. No position could 
be, humanly speaking, more perilous or more hope- 
less than theirs. But they had convictions, not senti- 

* Delivered at the Commencement of Emory College, Oxford, Ga., June 6, 
1S97. 

[9] 



io True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



ments or opinions only, but clearly defined convic- 
tions, both of the understanding and the conscience, 
based on what they had seen and heard and felt. And 
they had the courage of their convictions, the courage 
to give expression to them before that venerable 
Senate, and in the face of its order to the contrary 
to proclaim them on the streets of Jerusalem. Ar- 
rested and brought before the same tribunal a few 
days later, the high priest asked them : " Did we not 
straitly command you that ye should not teach in 
this name? " In reply Peter and his companions de- 
cided the issue once for all, saying : " We ought to 
obey God rather than men." They thus declared 
their sense of solemn obligation and their deliberate 
determination, whatever might be the result to them- 
selves, to be true to their convictions of truth and 
duty. They were ready to suffer and, if need be, to 
die " for the testimony which they held." 

The character of these men as illustrated by this 
incident and their conduct, has perhaps already sug- 
gested to the thoughtful hearer our theme: True 
Heroism. By every token they were heroic, and their 
heroism was of the noblest, truest type. 

We all have, or ought to have, some ideal toward 
which we are pressing, and which we hope more or 
less fully to realize. This ideal, if clearly defined, 
will exert a potent influence in the formation of our 
character and in the direction and results of our life. 
I shall be most happy if in the analysis and discussion 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. n 

of my subject I shall offer any suggestions that may 
be helpful to you in the choice and pursuit of an 
ideal worthy of your manhood and your destiny. 

There is much that passes current among men as 
heroic that has scarcely any element of that virtue. 
Romance, poetry, and history have embalmed and 
perpetuated as heroic deeds that were conceived in 
selfishness and ambition, and consummated in enor- 
mities of cruelty, rapaciousness, and bloodshed. Truth 
and righteousness in character and moral quality in 
conduct too often have no place in the world's esti- 
mate of men. That which strikes the sense or 
captivates the imagination will win the palm of pop- 
ular adulation, while genuine merit and a noble life 
ofttimes do not receive the scanty meed of a word or 
glance of approval. The world in its recklessness 
is every day repeating the ancient folly of calling 
bitter sweet, darkness light, and evil good. 

True heroism has its seat and inspiration in moral 
conviction. It may not always be enlightened con- 
viction. Others may regard it as grossly erroneous. 
The man himself, on better information, may modify 
or entirely change his views; but at the time he verily 
believes that he is right. His understanding, accord- 
ing to its light, fully approves his position; his con- 
science, whose decisions depend on the understand- 
ing, gives its imperative approval, and he accord- 
ingly feels that he ought to stand where he stands, 
and ought to do what he does. His sense of obliga- 



12 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

tion, of duty, is commanding. The question of first 
importance with him it not, " Is this expedient? " or, 
" Will this meet the approbation of others; but, is 
this my duty? " A doubtful answer to this question 
will beget a hesitation and consequent weakness in- 
compatible with true heroism; a decisive affirmative 
will prepare him for the highest exhibition of this 
virtue. 

Out of such conviction comes a delicate sense of 
honor. No word is of more frequent application to 
the character of a man accounted a hero than honor. 
But what is honor, or the sense of honor, as com- 
monly understood? When reduced to its last analy- 
sis, it is found to be but little more than a nice per- 
ception of what is reputable among men, and a 
prudent regard for one's personal popularity. There 
are two articles in its creed : first, public opinion is 
supreme authority on all question; and second, the 
protection of reputation is the first of all duties. In 
other words, any interest must be sacrificed, any prin- 
ciple violated, any tie, however tender and sacred, 
trampled under foot at the behest of public opinion, 
however vicious, or rather than suffer any reproach 
to be cast upon the reputation. The true hero de- 
spises and utterly rejects such a creed. Reputation, 
or what men may think of him, gives him but little 
anxiety. He cannot be wholly indifferent, yet he 
neither fears the condemnation nor courts the ap- 
probation of public opinion. The right, and not the 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. ij 

accident of popularity or unpopularity, is his standard 
of honor. He feels and says with Tennyson : 

Because right is right, to follow right 
Were wisdom, in scorn of consequence. 

Right, however much it may seem to conflict with 
interests that are present and secular, is in his view 
the only path of honor; while wrong, however much 
it may promote those interests, is the path of infamy. 
This is his creed, and in its illustration and vindication 
he is willing to be singular, and stand alone, or, like 
one of old, to be accounted the offscouring of all 
things. His sense of honor binds him to consistency 
with it. He feels that any voluntary infringement of 
it would be a degradation of his manhood. To meet 
with fidelity its demands, to do his whole duty, as he 
understands it, is his supreme ambition as well as his 
highest honor. 

Accompanying this sense of honor, and necessary 
to the maintenance of its integrity, is courage. By the 
world at large this is regarded as the first of virtues. 
Among the ancients it bore the name of all virtue. 
Where Peter says, " Add to your faith virtue," the 
meaning of the original is courage. Thomas Hughes 
says : " The conscience recognizes courage as the 
foundation of all manliness, and manliness as the per- 
fection of human character." But the courage of 
which he speaks is something very different from 
what is ordinarily meant by the word ; it is more than 



14. True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



an intense assertion of individual will and force; more 
than a contempt for ease, and a defiance of danger 
and pain and death. The bulldog, as well as the 
man, has this sort of courage. It has its seat in the 
blood and nerves and muscles of the body in a state 
of excitement. It is destitute of the intellectual and 
moral element, and is but little, if anything, more 
than a gross compound of unthinking animal im- 
pulse. A true, rational courage has its source and 
seat in a mind, conscience, heart, in right relation 
to truth and duty, and in its manifestation it is an 
unfaltering adherence to these, despite all opposition 
and all peril. It does not find its inspiration in 
angry passion or wounded pride or public opinion 
or the dreams of ambition, but in a profound convic- 
tion of right, a love of the right, and a deliberate pur- 
pose to do right under all conditions and at every 
hazard. It does not court opposition or dally with 
danger; but if they come, it does not tremble, but 
meets them with steady step and eye unquailing, in- 
different to any issue save the vindication of the right. 
It is said that the King of France summoned the 
Prince of Conde before him and gave him the choice 
of three things : * Go to mass, die, or be imprisoned 
for life." Said the Prince in reply: " With regard to 
the first, I am fully determined never to go to mass; 
as to the other two, I am so perfectly indifferent that 
I leave the choice to your Majesty." We find an 
illustration also in the three Hebrews to whom 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. is 



Nebuchadnezzar presented the alternative of wor- 
shiping his golden image or being cast into the fiery 
furnace. Said they : " We are not careful to answer 
thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we 
serve is able to deliver us out of thy hands, O king. 
But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we 
will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image 
which thou hast set up." They were in the hands 
of absolute power, and power as unscrupulous and 
merciless as it was absolute. But compliance with 
its demands would be in the teeth of their cherished 
convictions of right. Rather than violate or compro- 
mise these they chose the fire. Here are all the ele- 
ments of heroism so far mentioned : Moral conviction, 
a sense of honor, and an unshrinking courage in the 
presence of death in its most terrific form. History, 
especially the history of the Church, abounds with 
such illustrations. And no one with an appreciative 
sense of the morally sublime can study them without 
having awakened within him a feeling akin to rev- 
erence for human nature, its capabilities of attainment 
and achievement, of suffering and glory, and with this 
feeling the kindling of a desire to emulate their ex- 
cellence and share in their glory. 

It were idle to think of assuming and holding such 
a position as this without the spirit of self-sacrifice — 
that magnanimity that will surrender personal feeling, 
interest, and claims for noble ends; that lays self upon 
the altar of the right and the common good. There 



16 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

can be no heroism — nothing but littleness and mean- 
ness — in the selfish soul. The man whose only 
thought is of his own merit and aggrandizement may 
perform what the world will call heroic deeds, and 
poetry may celebrate his praise, and the marble may 
perpetuate his name; but he is little and mean still, 
and no flattering art can ever make him great. A 
man must be able to forget self; and instead of exclu- 
sive engrossment with personal interests, there must 
be a looking also on the things of others, and a self- 
sacrificing devotion to others' good. Instead of mag- 
nifying our own claims at the expense of those of 
others, there must be the preferring of one another 
in love; there must be that self-abnegation and that 
consecration to a lofty purpose that, though another 
man may carry off the palm for the achievement of 
that purpose, will constrain a man to say of that 
other's triumph, " I therein do rejoice; yea, and will 
rejoice." 

Nothing is more contemptible in a man than that 
conceit of his own worth that makes him think it 
grievous wrong if all the world does not recognize his 
merit and pay him court. He whines about the 
world's not doing him justice — not giving him what 
he deserves. Very true; if it did, it would consign 
him to immediate and utter oblivion. Many a poor 
fool seems to think that the country will go to the bad 
if he does not get a certain cross-road post-office. 
If he gets it, his conceit of his dignity and importance 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. iy 

is simply amazing. If now somebody will only call 
him " colonel," like the worthless toad-fish when 
tickled, he will swell well-nigh to the point of burst- 
ing. His mien and movements all seem to say : " If 
I were to stand from under, the very heavens would 
fall." There is no alchemy that can distill the first 
element of true heroism out of such a character. 
" Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is 
more hope of a fool than of him." 

Think of Col. Robert E. Lee, resigning his com- 
mission in the Federal army in 1861 and going to 
Virginia, saying to himself as he did so, " Well, Albert 
Sidney Johnston, Beauregard, Joe Johnston, Bragg, 
are all clever soldiers, and will do well in subordinate 
positions; but if merit is recognized and justice is 
done, I will be the man to command the armies of 
the South; " and then himself writing, or suborning 
some one else to write, paragraphs for the news- 
papers setting forth his merits; buying the influence 
of this and that paper, interviewing this or that man 
who stood near the President, and using all the ma- 
chinery that self-conceit could invent to attain his end. 
Who can think of him as condescending to such 
methods to secure promotion and gratify personal 
vanity and ambition? So far from this, under the 
impulse of a profound conviction of right and duty, 
he went to his mother State, asking of her nothing 
but the privilege of rendering any service that she 
might require at his hands. He remained in com- 



18 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



parative obscurity, faithfully doing the work assigned 
him, until a casualty of battle opened the way for 
his advancement to high command. Thenceforward 
when successes were achieved he put the laurel wreath 
on the brow of his lieutenants and their brave bat- 
talions; when disaster came, he said, " It is my fault." 
The royal virtues of humility, generosity, unselfish- 
ness, devotion to duty, were his in preeminent degree. 
He was a hero, and none the less a hero because his 
cause was lost. 

The last element of true heroism that we name is 
fortitude in disaster and sorrow. Aaron displayed the 
heroic spirit when the judgment of heaven fell on his 
sons, and he held his peace, and moved forward in 
the discharge of his priestly duties; and David, when, 
though the hearts of the people were stolen from him 
and he was a fugitive from his throne, he could cheer- 
ily sing, " I shall yet praise him, who is the health of 
my countenance, and my God;" and Paul, when, with 
bonds and afflictions awaiting him in every city, he 
could say, " None of these things move me, neither 
count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might 
finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I 
have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel 
of the grace of God." Every man finds occasion for 
the exercise of this spirit. However favorable the 
conditions of a man's life, in its history are many 
pages of grief, records of disappointment and sorrow. 
It is in large part written in tears. But it is not all 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. ig 

darkness and tempest. It has been said that " every 
cloud is fringed with gold, or arched with a bow of 
promise; every desert has its well, and every lion's 
carcass its treasures of honey." He is the hero who, 
instead of shuddering at the blackness of the cloud 
rejoices in the splendor of the bow; instead of repin- 
ing in fruitless lamentations over the barrenness of 
the desert, gladly refreshes himself at the lone well; 
instead of shrinking in loathing from the carcass, 
feasts on the honey it contains. 

It was a saying of Seneca that " the good things 
which belong to prosperity are to be wished, but the 
good things which belong to adversity are to be 
admired." That the ardent and sanguine spirit of 
the young should recoil at the thought of adversity 
is but natural. They would rather have life as one 
continual song, or as the unceasing laughter of the 
summer wave. But they wish not wisely. It is trial, 
darkness, and struggle that bring into exercise the 
noblest energies and sweetest feelings, and give the 
most delicate touches of beauty to the soul. The 
hardest porphyry is found on the stormiest coasts; 
the brightest jewels are refined in the hottest fires; 
the soul reaches its highest perfection only through 
much tribulation. Trial tests and illustrates the 
strength and glory of our character far more decisively 
than any triumph that we might win. Marius is 
neither strong nor heroic when he sits hopeless 
amid the ruins of Carthage, calling up the ghosts of 



20 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



things that were, only to see them vanish and leave 
him hopeless still. He is the truest hero who meets 
disaster and the disappointment of his hope, with 
tears it may be, but without repining and despairing 
lamentation, and sets himself at once to the task of 
repairing his fortunes, and to new labors for his own 
and for others' good. Such a man is a king as well 
as a hero — a king of storms, grasping their reins and 
turning their wild fury to the working out for himself 
of a nobler character and a higher destiny. 

Your own fathers and mothers, young gentlemen, 
have furnished one of the grandest exhibitions of the 
heroic spirit that the world has ever witnessed. A 
generation ago our beautiful South was in the dust. 
" Grim-visaged war " with sword and torch had 
stalked over all her length and breadth. Desolation's 
raven wing was outstretched over her fair fields, and 
sorrow sat in tears beside her once happy hearth- 
stones. Her children were fatherless and her mothers 
were widows; husbands, fathers, sons, by the ten 
thousand, had gone down in the harvest of death. 
Her industries were all paralyzed, her commerce was 
dead; her institutions of learning had closed, and 
teachers and pupils alike had gone to the field of 
strife. At length, overwhelmed by numbers and 
superior resources, they surrendered, not their prin- 
ciples or their convictions, but their swords. Then, 
still led by Lee, their peerless commander, with in- 
vincible fortitude they began patiently to rebuild their 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 21 

ruined fortunes. Ere long the vines began to creep 
and the flowers to bloom over the wounds made in 
earth's bosom by red Battle's hoofs and shot and shell 
and grinding wheels. The fields again gave gladden- 
ing response to the tiller's toil, and the song of harvest 
home again echoed along our vales. The hum and 
stir of busy enterprise are now heard and seen on 
every side, and the land we love so well has not only 
risen from her ashes, but has advanced to a position 
of intelligence, wealth, and power of which our 
proudest sons may well be proud. 

There are some who say that we have a " new 
South" now. New in what? Not in the greater 
chivalry, intellectual power, or patriotism of her sons; 
not in the greater purity, beauty, and self-sacrificing 
devotion of her daughters; not in greater piety to- 
wards God or good will towards men. But we do 
find forms of political intrigue and corruption new 
to those of us who came from the ante-bellum days; 
we do find a disrespect for woman and a decline of 
womanly reserve and modesty new to the South- 
erners of the olden time; we do find a shoddyism and 
pinchbeck glare in many places that the genuine 
Southron, now as of old, holds in utter contempt. 

No; it is not to the influx of any new power that 
we owe the recuperation of the fortunes and the sur- 
prising advancement of our land. It is due to the 
intelligence, fortitude, and devotion of the genuine 
manhood and womanhood of the South. Such men 



22 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



and women as have glorified our past and current 
history would glorify any country or age. Our 
glory is not a foreign importation; what is great 
among us to-day is " native here, and to the manner 
born; " and we can wish no greater good or higher 
glory for the oncoming generations than that they 
illustrate in their character and life the splendid vir- 
tues of the men and women who have made our 
history. 

But that which harmonizes all the elements of a 
true heroism and moulds them into a beautiful unity 
in the Christ-life, of which we become partakers 
through the operation of the Holy Ghost. The Sanhe- 
drim marveled when they saw the boldness of Peter 
and John. The secret of it was that they had been 
with Jesus. They knew him and the power of his 
resurrection. Knowing him, they knew the truth. 
Under the operation of the Spirit the truth became 
to them an experimental verity, and the gospel the 
grandest of all realities. For the excellency of this 
knowledge and experience they counted everything 
else but loss. Without such knowledge and ex- 
perience there is no combination of qualities that can 
overcome the tendency in human nature to deteriora- 
tion and destruction; with it, our manhood is allied 
and akin to the divine. If, therefore, we would meet 
the demands of the present, and have our life crowned 
with beneficent results and continue to reproduce 
itself in such results in the years to come, we must 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 23 



put the Christ back of it, and before it, above it, 
beneath it, and through and through it. We reach 
the perfection of manhood, we are complete, only 
in him. He is God's ideal of manhood, and to attain 
" unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of 
Christ " is our high calling's glorious hope. What 
are earthly dignities and emoluments when compared 
with this? It is in this knowledge of Jesus and fellow- 
ship with him, and in the steadfast pursuit of this 
wonderful ideal, that men are fashioned into heroes 
not of earthly, but of divine type. 

Young gentlemen, would you be men of lofty moral 
purpose, of truest honor, of dauntless courage, of un- 
selfish aim, of resolute endurance? Where will you find 
these virtues in such beauty and perfection as in the 
man Christ Jesus? Take him as the model of your 
character and life, take him into your heart, live in 
vital union with him, and your life will blossom with 
the graces that glorified his life and that have filled 
the ages with their fragrance. 

Would you be strong for the work and the warfare 
that are before you? Who so strong as he who is 
"rooted and built up" in Jesus Christ? The old 
philosopher, in his enthusiasm on the discovery of the 
power of the lever, cried : " Give me where I may 
stand, and I will move the world ! " His aspiration 
has become an experience in a sense deeper and 
grander than it ever entered into his heart to con- 
ceive. A man in union with Christ by faith can and 



2£ True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



does move the world. He has access to infinite re- 
sources. He can boldly say : " The Lord is my 
helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto 
me." " I can do all things through Christ, which 
strengtheneth me." " Most gladly therefore will I 
rather glory in mine infirmities, that the power of 
Christ may rest upon me." 

Until within a few years past there was in the 
mouth of the harbor of New York a mighty mass of 
granite which was a constant menace to navigation. 
So perilous was the passage that the spot acquired 
the name of Hell-Gate. Capital and labor, directed 
by science, undertook the removal of the great ob- 
struction. Passage-ways and chambers were cut into 
the very heart of the rock; these were packed with 
giant powder, and the powder connected by wire 
with an electric battery on the shore. When all was 
in readiness, the tiny finger of a little child touched 
the key and sent the mighty current down into those 
deep, dark chambers under the sea that exploded 
the powder, shivered the granite, and opened a safe 
gate-way to the commerce of the world. But that 
little child was held in the arms of her father, and 
his hand guided her finger as it touched the key. 
In the arms of Jesus, close to his heart, in loving 
union and sympathy with him — ah ! there is the hid- 
ing place of power, power with God, power with men. 
That heart embraces all. His wondrous love reaches 
down into the deepest, darkest caverns of human 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 25 



woe. Touch his heart with the finger, the prayer of 
faith, and while you will feel a rapturous thrill, you 
will send the mighty magnetism down into human 
souls about you, exploding adamantine indifference 
and unbelief, and opening the gate-way of hope and 
life eternal to the imperiled voyagers of time. If 
you would be strong for achievement, strong for en- 
durance, and strong to resist the fiercest onsets of 
the gates of hell — if you would move the world 
heavenward, and at the same time lift yourself above 
the unwholesome vapors of earth into eternal sun- 
shine, then live in the arms of Jesus. 

The lighthouse may be in the right place; it may 
be strongly built, and complete in all its appoint- 
ments; but without its light it is worthless in the 
night of darkness and storm. You may have a noble 
physical manhood and a well-disciplined and richly- 
furnished intellect, and yet all about you may be 
strewn moral wrecks whom you were helpless to 
guide and save. But let the edifice of your manhood 
be illumined from foundation to capstone with the 
light of the indwelling Christ, and the mariners of 
time, both now and in years to come, discerning 
your light from near and from far, will glide safely 
into the harbor of eternal repose. With Christ in 
you, you will be heroes indeed, enrolled as such in the 
annals of the kingdom of God, and honored as such 

through the cycles of eternity. 
2 



26 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



And now hear the conclusion of the whole matter : 

Dare to think though others frown, 
Dare in words your thought express; 

Dare to rise though oft cast down, 

Dare the wronged and scorned to bless. 

Dare from custom to depart; 

Dare the priceless pearl possess; 
Dare to wear it next your heart; 

Dare when others curse to bless. 

Dare forsake what you deem wrong, 

Dare to walk in wisdom's way; 
Dare to give where gifts belong, 

Dare God's precepts to obey. 

Do what conscience says is right, 

Do what reason says is best; 
Do with all your mind and might; 

Do your duty and be blest. 



MARKET-STREET M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH, PETERSBURG, VA. 



The Certainty: of the G ospel. 



"That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast 
been instructed." — Luke i, 4. 

These are the concluding words of the preface to 
Luke's gospel. They are addressed to Theophilus — 
a Greek name signifying a friend or lover of God. 
He was no doubt a Gentile who had been brought to 
Christ under the preaching of Luke, or of Paul, with 
whom Luke traveled and labored. It is believed that 
he was a man of education and influence, and held 
official position. 

The text sets forth Luke's specific object in writing 
to him. He had already received oral or catechetical 
instruction. But such instruction was liable to 
misinterpretation; as it passed from one to another 
it might be added to, or essential points might be 
omitted; or with advancing years it might fade from 
the memory. Luke therefore commits it to writing, 
that Theophilus may have it ever before him in its 
original purity, and that he may know, and that all 
subsequent ages may know the certainty of " those 
things which are most surely believed among us." 

This was the more important because even at that 
early day many had felt themselves authorized or 
impelled to record the events of the life of Christ. 
What a marvelous life that must have been to have 
awakened such enthusiasm, and to have put so manv 
pens in motion, and this too at a period when the 

[27] 



28 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



modern passion for writing was entirely unknown ! 
What mere man ever so moved the intellect, the 
heart, and all the noblest energies of humanity? 
It is an inexplicable mystery unless Jesus of Nazareth 
was something more than many of our modern critics 
would make him. 

These accounts or histories Luke does not criticize 
or condemn. But he considers them defective and 
unsatisfactory — defective perhaps in arrangement* 
hence he proposes to set the facts in order — defective 
as to fulness — they were mere fragments — detached 
acts or sayings of Christ, and giving no adequate view 
of his character and life, and many of them probably 
mythical, or unauthenticated by reliable testimony. 
Matthew and Mark had already written their his- 
tories. They were accepted as authentic. Luke is 
not to be understood as referring to them, or ab 
casting any suspicion on their authority. Yet he sup- 
plies much that they had omitted, and omits much 
that they had recorded. Nearly one fourth of his 
gospel is original. 

The human sources of Luke's information were 
twofold. He had access to secular history, to which 
he repeatedly refers in fixing the dates of important 
events. The canonical narratives of Matthew and 
Mark were before him, as well as the many frag- 
mentary documents to which he refers in the context. 
As a faithful historian he would of course examine 
carefully and critically all contemporary records. 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 20 



But the chief source of his information was tradi- 
tional, or the oral testimony of those who " from 
the beginning were witnesses, and ministers of the 
word." He does not profess to have seen what he 
writes; but declares that he " had perfect understand- 
ing of all things from the very first " — that is, that 
he had, by diligent investigation, traced up every- 
thing to its source in order to obtain an exact account 
of the whole matter. An educated and thoroughly 
honest man, writing to an educated man, he would 
naturally be painstaking and thorough in his in- 
quiries. Moreover he was associated with Paul, one 
of the most cultivated and astute thinkers of his day; 
and no doubt his work was submitted to that Apostle, 
and approved by him. 

While he carefully sifted the documents at hand, 
he would no less faithfully weigh the character of the 
living witnesses. If they were of disreputable char- 
acter, or imbecile, or if there were sufficient motives 
to induce them to bear false witness, of course their 
testimony was worthless. But instead of this they 
were all found to be not only reputable, but men of 
the strictest integrity. Their record had been sub- 
jected to the closest scrutiny by their own and their 
Master's bitterest enemies, and it had come forth 
from the trial unscathed. Virtuous themselves they 
devoted their lives to the promotion of virtue and 
piety among their fellow men. It is true that they 



jo True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



were for the most part unlettered men. They had 
been gathered from the humbler walks of life and 
were inured to hardship and toil. They were stran- 
gers alike to the discipline and learning of the schools, 
the refinements of polite society and the luxuries of 
wealth. But they were men of good natural ability, 
clear perception and strong convictions. And they 
were as competent to testify to what they saw and 
heard as a Gamaliel, or any member of the Sanhedrim 
could be. Nor could they have had any motive to 
testify falsely. Their education, their inherited pre- 
judices, the prejudices of their nation, were all against 
their present position. All their worldly interests, 
and even life itself was imperiled by adherence to the 
Nazarene. And if they had sufficient motive and 
sufficient intelligence and courage to devise and at- 
tempt such a gigantic imposture, they could have no 
reasonable expectation of its success. There were 
multitudes still living who were contemporary with 
Christ, who would at once have convicted them of 
false witness had their testimony been untrue. The 
things to which they testified were not done in a 
corner, but in the presence of thousands. They were 
well known through all the land and in Jerusalem 
itself. It was the truth rather than the falsity of the 
testimony that excited such deep resentment and 
opposition on the part of the adversaries of Jesus. 

From whatever standpoint the matter may be 
viewed not the slightest suspicion can be cast on 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 31 



the trustworthiness of the witnesses. Satisfied on 
this point, Luke asks, What is their testimony? and 
says, in substance, to Theophilus : " Rejecting what- 
ever is mythical, or not fully substantiated by the 
evidence, lopping off all exaggerations that have nat- 
urally gathered about this wonderful story, the fol- 
lowing account is most surely believed among us. 
We hold it to be absolutely true in every particular. 
You may accept it as a certainty, excluding com- 
pletely and forever from your mind the remotest mis- 
giving as to its truthfulness. " 

And now he proceeds to record what? Not a 
formal Confession of Faith, or Articles of Religion, 
or an elaborate system of doctrine, but the facts — 
the simple, but sublime facts of the life of Christ — 
what he did, and said and suffered — his resurrection 
power and ascension glory. And this is the grand 
distinguishing characteristic of the gospel. It is not 
a system of notions, or of speculative opinions, but 
a series of facts — an authentic history. Its first 
preachers could all adopt the words of John : " That 
which we have seen and heard declare we unto you." 
Or say with Peter : " We have not followed cunningly 
devised fables when we made known unto you the 
power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but 
were eye-witnesses of his majesty." And herein has 
the gospel infinite advantage over all the systems 
that the genius of men has devised. 

1. Facts are unchangeable. Sentiment is as un- 



32 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

stable as the waves ; opinion as variable as the winds, 
and often as false as fickle. The settled beliefs, the 
convictions of one age are the laughing-stock of the 
next. Well-nigh the entire realm of speculative in- 
quiry is a scene of agitation, fluctuation and uncer- 
tainty. Systems built as men supposed upon the 
foundation of everlasting principles, with all the 
elaborate beauty of human genius, and consolidated 
by the suffrage of ages, like the splendid architectural 
structures of antiquity, have fallen into hopeless ruin. 
But facts are immutable. Deeds once done are done 
forever. The granite cliff that lifts its head above the 
waters in the calm, when the tempest comes may be 
buried beneath the billows; but it is the granite still; 
and when the storm has spent its fury it will again lift 
its head into the sunshine. Facts may be obscured 
by passion or prejudice, or pass into forgetfulness. 
But they are facts still, and forever. The facts of the 
gospel have been assaulted from every possible stand- 
point, with every conceivable weapon for eighteen 
centuries. But as each successive blow of the sculp- 
tor's hammer and chisel brings the image into clearer 
outline, so each successive assault has brought into 
clearer light both the unimpeachableness of the wit- 
nesses, and the beauty and glory of the facts they 
relate, and has thus entrenched them the more 
strongly in the faith and love of the race. 

2. Facts appeal alike to all. They arrest the atten- 
tion and carry conviction to the minds of those who 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. jj 



cannot or will not follow a chain of abstract reason- 
ing. The astronomer may spread before the un- 
lettered man a chart of the heavens, point out to him 
the position and describe the movements of the 
heavenly bodies, explain to him all the steps in his 
calculations whereby he reaches the conclusion that 
at a given time there will be a total eclipse of sun 
The man may wonder, but understands nothing, be- 
lieves nothing. But the clay, the hour, the minute 
comes, and the moon wheels in between the sun and 
the earth, gradually obscuring its light, until presently 
nothing is visible to the eye but a zone of subdued 
splendor apparently encircling the dark body of the 
moon. As the man looks on the scene he is thrilled 
with amazement and awe, and, while utterly unim- 
pressed by the figures and conclusions of the as- 
tronomer, he carries the impression of the wonderful 
fact which he has witnessed through all the years to 
come. Few persons may know or care anything 
about the philosophy of history; but how few there 
are who are not interested in and charmed by its facts. 
The great multitude can know nothing of theology 
as a science; they can know nothing of it as a 
system — an orderly and compact arrangement of 
profound and glorious truths perfectly adjusted the 
one to the other and each essential to the harmony, 
completeness and effectiveness of the whole. But 
what child cannot grasp the simple facts of the 
gospel? True, it is the wonderful history of the most 



34- 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



wonderful life that was ever lived on earth; and no 
other life ever ended in darker tragedy or more splen- 
did triumph. But its wonders of wisdom and power 
and purity, its ineffable tenderness and love, its humi- 
liation and glory, somehow waken responsive echoes 
in the inner chambers of the soul and take fast hold 
on the mind and heart and conscience, and live in the 
memory of the child or the pagan, and move them to 
a new and higher life when abstract truth would find 
no avenue to the soul and therefore be utterly power- 
less to stir the sensibilities or move the will. It is 
this historic element that makes the gospel suscep- 
tible of universal appreciation and commends it to the 
faith of the ignorant as well as the enlightened. And 
herein we find one reason why, as a rule, it is accepted 
by the untutored man more readily than by the 
highly cultivated: the former accepts and builds his 
faith and hope on the facts, while the latter, leaving 
facts in the background, hesitates and stumbles over 
difficulties of doctrine and questions of interpretation. 

3. Nor can we overestimate the value and the 
might of facts. They are what we all want when any 
matter that affects our interests is presented, whether 
it be secular or religious. A single fact well authen- 
ticated, outweighs the strongest argument, baffles the 
most inveterate prejudice, and overturns beliefs 
cherished through a lifetime. The missionary finds 
that nothing is so mighty as the story of Jesus and 
his love, and that the more simply it is told the more 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 35 

effective it is. The pastor, in his ministrations among 
the sorrowing, and in the death chamber, finds the 
same sweet story of old giving the richest solace to 
the troubled, and courage and confidence to the 
dying. The cry of every human heart that knows 
anything of his love is " Tell me more about Jesus, 
Him would I know, who loved me so; tell me more 
about Jesus." 

The reality of the facts once definitely ascertained 
the certainty of the faith can no longer be questioned. 
Here, if anywhere, we tread on the solid ground of 
unalterable truth. Accept the history as authentic 
and the only possible conclusion is that the Son of 
Man was also the Son of God, " the Lord from 
heaven " — the final and perfected expression of God's 
love to our race — the Prophet, Priest, and King — 
in whom we have redemption, even the forgiveness 
of sins according to the riches of his grace. 

Infidelity recognizing the inevitableness of this 
conclusion, from the days of Julian and Porphyry 
until now, has been taxing all its resources to in- 
validate the history. Many have been its hypo- 
theses — some puerile, some subtle and profound — 
some' inspired by maligant hate, and some, it may 
be, by honest doubt. When Jesus was on trial, 
it is recorded that, " Many bare false witness against 
him, but their witness agreed not together." So 
with these opponents of the gospel. They find no 
common ground of truth on which they can all stand 



36 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



and from which a concentrated attack can be made. 
The only tie that binds them together is the enmity 
of the carnal mind against God — a deep all-pervasive, 
all-controlling hostility to the simplicity, purity, and 
love of the gospel. The Psalmist says: " The kings 
of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take 
counsel together, against the Lord, and against his 
anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, 
and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth 
in the heavens shall laugh : the Lord shall have them 
in derision.'' Xo less impotent and certain of defeat 
are the counsels of his enemies now. Xot a single 
fact of the gospel history have they been able to 
discredit after eighteen centuries of effort. Xot one 
single stone in the foundation or in the walls of this 
glorious superstructure have they jostled out of its 
place. 

The anxiety of some good men has been greatly 
stirred by what is boastfully called " the higher criti- 
cism," which attempts to reconstruct the word of 
God and tell us what in it is fiction, and what is fact, 
what to be believed and what rejected. But the 
outcome of its work justifies none of its affectation 
of profounder learning and greater courage and wis- 
dom than belong to other men. And though its 
exponents and advocates be, in many cases, in the 
Churches, it is but one of the many forms of infidelity, 
and they are on the highway to avowed unbelief. 
But suppose all its claims be granted.' Xot one es- 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



37 



sential fact of the gospel is touched. The history 
remains in all its completeness, originality and glory. 
The story of Jesus and the resurrection has lost none 
of its sweetness and power, nor has a single note 
dropped from the scale of the anthem of our triumph. 

But we of the present day have an advantage over 
Luke and all his contemporaries. We have entered 
into their labors — enjoy the benefits of all that they 
saw, and heard, and recorded. But the history was 
not finished when the pen fell from their hands. 
Jesus still lives, and has ever been living and moving 
and working among men. " Lo, I am with you al- 
ways," said he, " even unto the end of the world." 
He is present in the word, in the soul of the 
awakened sinner, and in the rejoicing believer — with 
his servant in his darkest hours of trial, and sorrow, 
with him in the valley and shadow of death. He is 
present in the believing family, sweetening its ties, 
refining and elevating its affections, and glorifying 
its life. He is present in the Church, in its ordinances, 
and in all its work, in its struggles and its victories, 
presiding over its fortunes, and leading it onward to 
its destiny of universal supremacy and heavenly glory. 
All the results that have been accomplished by the 
preaching of the word, by the holy living and dying 
of the saints, and by the multiplied agencies of the 
church from the day of Pentecost until this hour 
are gospel facts. They are the irrefutable demonstra- 
tion of the certainty of those things in which we have 



j8 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

been instructed. This evidence, which has been gath- 
ering volume and power through the ages, is all ours. 
If Luke and Paul and their co-laborers began the 
working out of the mighty problem, we have the 
solution; and in the solution we have "assurance 
doubly assured." 

If now we have had any doubts as individual be- 
lievers as to our foundation let us bid them be silent. 
We are not building on superstitious fancies or fears, 
nor on a mere balance of probabilities in our favor, 
nor on the doctrinal formulas of this or that church, 
nor on the church itself; but on the solid, everlasting 
foundation of fact — the fact of a Christ incarnate, 
suffering, dying, rising, reigning; the fact that over- 
tops and includes all other facts of the divine love, 
that reaches up to the throne of God and down into 
the deepest abysses of human wretchedness and woe, 
back into the depths of eternity past and forward 
through all the sweep of our immortality; the fact 
that " turns earth to heaven, lights life in death, and 
to heavenly thrones transforms the ghastly ruins of 
the mouldering grave." Devils believe this fact and 
tremble; the angelic powers believe it and rejoice; 
we believe it and rest. Infidelity has no fact with 
which to rebut it, or to cast a shadow of doubt upon 
it. There it stands upon the page of history un- 
corrupted, and incorruptible forever. " Go ask 
the infidel what boon he brings us, what charm 
for aching hearts he can reveal;" and gloomy 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



39 



silence, the jest and sneer, or philosophy and vain 
deceit, is all that he has to offer. But turn to this 
wondrous fact, and it distills an unutterable sweetness 
into the aching heart, calms all its fears, inspires it 
with lively hope, and fills it with a peace that passeth 
all understanding. In this gospel of fact we rest se- 
cure, certain of our foundation — certain of the issue 
of our faith. 

Nor need we have any fear with respect to the 
present security and future triumph of the Church. 
It does not depend for safety on the friendship of men, 
the patronage of learning and wealth, the prowess of 
the soldier, or the genius of the statesman. These 
have all been leagued against it, and active and per- 
sistent in their efforts to overthrow it or to stay its 
progress. But their efforts, instead of succeeding, 
seem only to have intensified its energy and activity 
and quickened its progress. It rests upon the bed- 
rock of an eternal fact : " Thou art the Christ, the Son 
of the living God," said Peter. " Yes," and " upon this 
rock will I build my church; and the gates of hell 
shall not prevail against it." And not only does it 
rest on this fact concerning the person and work of 
Christ, but, in the exulting language of the Psalmist : 
" God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; 
God shall help her and that rigdit early." 

Men talk about the decadence of Christianity, and 
predict its coming overthrow. The truth is it was 
never more vital and aggressive than it is to-day. 



4.0 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



Never was its faith more steadfast, its purpose more 
determined, its forces more consolidated, or its 
achievements more splendid. Our own Church is 
building and dedicating to God one house of worship 
for every fourteen hours the year round. And it is 
said that Protestant Christianity opens some new 
sanctuary for Christ every hour in the year. Instead 
of decadence there is amazing progress; instead of 
the gathering shadows of night, the sun in cloudless 
splendor is riding up the heavens to high noon, and 
ere long its glory will " burst o'er all the earth." 

God inspire us, as believing men and women, and 
inspire the Church everywhere with an absolute faith 
in gospel fact. Such a faith will kindle our love for 
Christ to an intenser glow, deepen and broaden our 
sympathies and our interest in humanity, increase 
our activity, enlarge our hearts and fill us with joy 
in God now, and rejoicing in the day of Jesus Christ. 



The Word of Life. 



" Holding forth the word of life." — Phil, ii, 16. 

It is interesting to note the variety of names given 
to the gospel of Christ. It is called a word; it is 
the mind of God concerning our race expressed in 
human speech. It is a " word of righteousness; " 
righteous in itself, it is a revelation of the righteous- 
ness of God, and of the means whereby men may 
become righteous. It is a "word of reconciliation; " 
it is a record of God's method of reconciling the world 
unto himself and an offer of reconciliation and peace 
to men alienated from him and in rebellion against 
him. It is a " word of truth," as compared with the 
shadows of the preceding dispensation, and as con- 
trasted with all other systems of religious belief. It 
is a " word of faith," as contrasted with legalism, 
naturalism and rationalism in all their forms, whether 
ancient or modern. It is a " word of salvation," it 
lifts man up from his degradation, liberates him from 
the bondage of corruption, and fits him for his posi- 
tion, work and destiny as a moral being. It translates 
him into the kindom of God, manifests the life of 
Jesus in his moral flesh, and verifies, in his experience 
the apparent paradox, " I am crucified with Christ, 
nevertheless I live." It saves him from the guilt, pollu- 
3 [41] 



42 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

tion, and power of sin in this life and from all its 
consequences in the life to come. 

In the text the gospel is called " the word of life," 
an expression suggestive of some of the most precious 
truths of our holy religion. To unfold its meaning, 
and to render as prominent as possible our duty in 
relation to it is our present purpose. 

I. THE GOSPEL IS A REVELATION OF LIFE. 

There is no profounder mystery than life. It fills 
the universe. Its forms are endlessly varied. Its 
productions are marvelously exuberant. But what 
is it? What is its essential principle? Who of all 
the wise men of the world has ever been able to 
answer this question? Science has taxed its resources 
to the utmost in the effort to discover its origin. For 
some time the purely natural school was disposed to 
rest in the theory of spontaneous generation. But 
it was a theory unsupported by facts, and therefore 
unscientific. It has accordingly been rejected w T ith 
the recorded admission that " no shred of trust- 
worthy experimental testimony exists to prove that 
life in our day has ever appeared independently of 
antecedent life." With this adniission, Science has 
no solution of the mystery. Revelation solves the 
problem at once by ascribing life directly to the omni- 
fic energy of God as uttered by the eternal Son. " He 
spake and it was done" — all things animate and in- 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



43 



animate began to be. On the word of his power its 
perpetuity depends, for " by him all things consist." 
Let the energy of that word be suspended or with- 
drawn, and all life and being would come to a per- 
petual end. 

But there is a life which is not the product of 
creative power. This is the life of the soul of which 
God is the Fountain rather than the Creator, and 
of which moral beings partake by impartation. It 
is not the product of culture, or of some peculiar 
combination of natural forces, or only a higher and 
more perfect development of the natural life; but it 
is the direct gift of God imparted in the work of the 
Holy Ghost. This life God breathed into Adam in 
Eden. It was this that Adam lost by transgression, 
and that can be recovered only bv a new birth unto 
righteousness. 

It is of this, higher, grander life, which reunites us 
to God and makes us one with him, and in him one 
with all virtuous intelligences, that the apostle speaks 
in the text. To make men partakers of this life 
is the design of the word; to the accomplishment of 
this end all its parts have been adapted by its 
author. 

" I am come," said Jesus Christ, " that they might 
have life and that they might have it more abun- 
dantly." John calls him " the word of life," and says, 
" God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in 
his Son." The word testifies of him. He is its Alpha 



^ True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

and Omega. It is the record of his love, the history 
of his mediatorial work. 

When the redemptive scheme originated we know 
not. The purpose to redeem must have been coeval 
with the purpose to create, and creation must have 
proceeded on the redemptive principle. The effec- 
tive operation of the scheme began the moment there 
was need for it in the history of man. The instant 
of his transgression marked the beginning of the 
reign of grace. Before old Eden was left, the seed 
of the woman was promised and the hope of a new 
Paradise awakened. All subsequent revelation was 
but the unfolding of that promise — each successive 
stage of its development in type and prophecy dis- 
closing more clearly the significance of the promise 
and the method and results of its fulfillment. 

In the New Testament prophecy and promise be- 
come history. The Son of God has come. He 
comes to men as a man, but brings with him the 
credentials of a God. Entering into their employ- 
ments, and into their houses, and reclining with them 
at their tables, and participating in their festive joys 
as well as in their sorrows, he teaches what it is to 
live, and how to live in the deepest, truest, broadest 
sense. " Life is a burden to be borne with meekness 
and patience," says Buddhism, " and eternal uncon- 
ciousness is the highest reward of virtue." " Life is 
the precious gift of an infinitely loving Father," says 
Christ, " and finds its only true expression in a 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



45 



joyous, loving spirit towards God and all that God 
has made." We sing, " There is a life above, un- 
measured by the flight of years, and all that life is 
love." Christ teaches that the true life on earth, no 
less than that in heaven, has its inspiration, its flower- 
ing and fruitage in love. No one knows the bliss 
of being until the bands of selfishness have been 
broken and his nature attuned to those sweet har- 
monies of which the heart-throb of the all-loving 
Father is the key-note. 

But while in his life and teaching he bears witness 
to this great truth, its realization in human experience 
is impossible unless guilt be canceled and the heart 
be cleansed. In order to this there must be expiation. 
The character and government of God require it. 
The moral constitution of man demands it. Con- 
science emphasizes its necessity and will not be satis- 
fied without it. To meet all conditions and demands, 
human and divine, Christ " through the eternal spirit 
offered himself without spot to God; " and after " he 
had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, he sat down 
on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting 
'till his enemies be made his footstool." 

In this great transaction he has " abolished death 
and brought life and immortality to light." In view 
of his vicarious death God can " be just, and the 
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." In justi- 
fication, or pardon, our disabilities are removed; we 
are restored to citizenship; we have legal life. By 



4-6 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

his intercession he secures for us the gift of the 
Holy Ghost, by whom we are "renewed in righteous- 
ness and true holiness after the image of him that 
created us." In this renewal or regeneration we have 
spiritual life. That which which Adam lost is thus re- 
gained in Christ. The soul is united to him as the 
branch to the vine, partakes of his life, and is filled 
with his peace. This spiritual resurrection is the 
earnest of <k the adoption, to-wit, the redemption of 
our body." Death is the consummation of the curse 
of the body. In it Satan and sin reach the climax of 
their power. But the same almighty love that re- 
deemed the soul has redeemed the body also, and 
has given the pledge of its complete emancipation 
from the corruption and dishonor of the grave. " He 
must reign until He hath put all enemies under His 
feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is 
death." With its destruction " this corruptible shall 
put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on im- 
mortality." Soul and body reunited and alike glori- 
fied in the image of Christ, and in a glorified world, 
shall know the bliss and " power of an endless life." 

II. THE GOSPEL IS AN OFFER OF LIFE. 

Such a revelation has not been made merely as 
a mockery of human helplessness and woe. The light 
has not been thrown into the dungeon only to reveal 
to the wretched inmate the loathsomeness of his sur- 
roundings; nor is he permitted to look out through 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



47 



the bars on a world of brightness and beauty only to 
intensify his despair. But all the light, life, and love 
of the word are intended specially for him — for his 
personal appropriation and enjoyment. There is 
nothing in the gospel that is merely theoretical; 
nothing the aim of which is to attract by its novelty, 
or to gratify a vain curiosity; nothing that does not 
meet some felt necessity of the soul. But in it is all 
that man does need. Its provisions are as varied as 
his wants and as boundless as the cc unsearchable 
riches of Christ." And it offers all the good it reveals. 
The offer is honest, earnest, impartial. It is made in 
every variety of form, and through every available 
instrumentality. Every Bible that issues from the 
press, every gospel sermon, every holy life and 
triumphant death, repeats from age to age the story 
of his love and the offer of his grace. Isaiah struck 
the key-note when he cried : " Ho, every one that 
thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath 
no money; come ye; buy, and eat; yea, come, buy 
wine and milk without money and without price." 
The Saviour, with an infinite pathos, repeats the invi- 
tation and promise: "Come unto Me, all ye that 
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." 
Well-nigh His last words to the world are : " The spirit 
and the bride say, Come. Let him that heareth say, 
Come. Let him that is athirst come. And whoso- 
ever will, let him take the water of life freely." The 
water of life — the bread of life! Drink of the water 



4.8 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



of Jacob's well, emblem of all the fountains of worldly 
joy, and you will thirst again. Eat at the tables spread 
by human vanity and self-sufficiency, or intellectual 
pride and assumption and you will hunger again. But 
" he that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he 
that believeth on Me shall never thirst." 

III. THE GOSPEL IMPARTS AND SUSTAINS LIFE. 

1. God has fitted the word to the needs of the 
spiritual nature just as He has fitted food to the needs 
of the body. When the word is " mixed with faith 
in them that hear it," their nourishment and growth 
follow as certainly as the body acquires and retains 
vigor and strength from the healthful digestion of 
nutritious food. Hence the exhortation of Peter: 
" As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the 
word, that ye may grow thereby: if so be ye have 
tasted that the Lord is gracious." 

2. The word is the channel through which divine 
influences are communicated to the soul. " Sanctify 
them through Thy truth; Thy word is truth." " Of 
His own will begat He us with the word of truth." 
" That He might sanctify and cleanse the Church with 
the washing of water by the word." We do not ques- 
tion the doctrine of the immediate influence of the 
Holy Spirit on human hearts. But we affirm with 
emphasis His mediate operation, and that the medium 
through which or the instrument with which He ordi- 
narily works is the word of truth. 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 49 



3. While God inspired holy men of old to speak 
and write the truth, He also inspired the truth itself. 
His inspiration of the men saved them from error in 
the delivery of the truth, while His inspiration of the 
truth gave it its exhaustless vitality and world-saving 
energy. Men often put themselves in the productions 
of their intellects so completely that as we read we 
seem almost to realize their living presence. We 
feel the power of their genius, the force of their will, 
the glow of their sensibilities. In a far deeper, truer 
sense God, the Holy Ghost, is in the word which He 
has given. His presence fills it and imparts to it that 
marvelous reproductive power of which His spiritual 
church is the offspring. We thought it bold rhetoric 
when we heard a celebrated preacher say, speaking 
of the word : " Touch that word with reverence, for 
God is in it ! It is instinct with His presence, His life, 
his power! Lay upon it the hand of faith and you 
will almost feel the pulsation of His Father heart." 
But underneath the rhetoric there is a substratum of 
precious truth. God is in the word. To receive the 
word is to receive Him. To have the word abiding 
us is to have Christ in us, " the hope of glory," and to 
have him in us is to have eternal life. 

In this living word — living because God is in it — 
is the life of the Church and of every believing soul. 
Not more surely will the body, deprived of food, pine 
and perish, than will the spiritual life wane and vanish 
unless constantly sustained and renewed by the word 



50 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



of faith. God could threaten no heavier judgment 
on Israel than when He said : " Behold, the days come 
that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine 
of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the 
words of the Lord; and they shall wander from sea to 
sea, and from the north even to the east; they shall 
run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall 
not find it." Better, a thousand times better, a 
famine of bread than a famine of the word ! The 
bread sustains the life of that which at best is perish- 
able; the word sustains the spiritual life of that which 
is imperishable, the soul. 

In the life-giving power of the word is the hope 
of our race. The history of the world demonstrates 
the inability of all other agencies to arrest depravity 
in its work of moral deterioration and wickedness, 
break the chains of vicious habit, and inspire men 
with the love of purity and goodness. The philoso- 
phies of the ancient schools were magnificient exhi- 
bitions of intellectual acumen and power; those of the 
present day are no less grandly conceived and wisely 
adjusted. As systems of human thought they must 
ever command the highest admiration. But they do 
not, cannot touch, far less renovate the moral char- 
acter of man. Their light may shine forever on 
spiritually dead humanity without starting a single 
throb of life. So, too, of the religious of paganism. 
They are powerless at the very point where power is 
needed most and at which failure is fatal. Instead 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 51 



of renewing and elevating they sensualize, imbrute, 
and destroy their votaries. Instead of life they bring- 
forth death. Equally impotent is the gospel of 
culture — the arrogant and empty boast of a god- 
less naturalism. It rests on the assumption that 
there is the ability of self-regeneration in humanity. 
Whereas, as the word of God and the history of the 
ages prove, man is " utterly unable to recover himself, 
or take one step towards his recovery, without the 
grace of God preventing him that he may have a good 
will, and working with him when he has that good 
will." There is in him no germ or seed of good which 
by culture can be developed into the spiritual man. 
Add to these all other conceivable forces — science, 
art, literature, oratory, material wealth, military power, 
statesmanship — combine and concentrate all their 
influences on a single soul, and thev fail to awaken 
the faintest pulsation of spiritual life. They lift no 
part of the burden from an awakened conscience; 
they cannot cleanse the soul from the slightest stain, 
nor kindle any light of holy, restful hope in the de- 
spairing spirit. No assuring answer can they give 
to the thrilling question, " What must I do to be 
saved? " Miserable comforters are they all. 

But the gospel of Christ, profound enough for the 
sage, simple enough for the child, little enough to 
enter the narrowest soul, broad enough to embrace in 
the mighty sweep of its love all the earth through 
all its generations, " is the power of God unto salva- 



52 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



tion to every one that believeth." It breaks down 
cherished prejudices, subdues rebellion, destroys en- 
mity, opens the prison and breaks the chains of them 
that are bound, binds up the broken heart, and gives 
to them that mourn beauty for ashes, the oil of joy 
for mourning, and the garment of praise for the 
spirit of heaviness. It saves the individual. It lifts 
him into a higher life. It makes him wiser, holier, 
happier. It supplies him with all necessary impulse, 
motive, and strength for a career of usefulness and 
goodness. At the same time it awakens within him 
sympathies as wide as the race, and a longing that 
" the arms of love that compass him might all man- 
kind embrace." Out of this philanthropy, born of 
the gospel, have come all those beneficent enterprises 
that look to the temporal as well as the moral and 
spiritual welfare of men. These have multiplied un- 
til we have a vast machinery of organized charities 
spreading its network of kindly influences over all 
Christian lands and into the " regions beyond." 

Thus while the gospel is a word of life to the in- 
dividual soul it is the basis and bond of home, of 
society, of good government, and the inspiration of 
those wonderful benevolent activities that are hasten- 
ing, as never before, the fulfillment of the prophetic 
testimony : " The wilderness and the solitary place 
shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice 
and blossom as the rose." 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



IV. OUR DUTY. 

One duty with respect to this word of life is to 
hold it forth. As believers we have experienced its 
power, we partake of its life. Its light is in our souls. 
Let not the light be hidden under a bushel. Put it 
on the candlestick of a consistent, earnest Christian 
life, " that men may see your good works, and glorify 
your Father which is in heaven." Men of the world, 
for the most part, do not read the word. Their gospel 
is the life of professing Christians. From them they 
receive their views and impressions of the truth and 
power of Christianity. An inconsistent life has given 
birth to many a doubt, and has been the stumbling- 
block over which many have fallen into ruin. There- 
fore, " walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye 
are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long- 
suffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavor- 
ing to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of 
peace." 

To hold it forth effectively it must be grasped with 
a firm and steady hand. There must be an unfalter- 
ing faith in it as the truth of God as the only but 
all-sufficient remedy for human woe. To be stead- 
fast and unmovable in the face of the scoffs of unbe- 
lief, and the cavils of philosophy and vain deceit, and 
the prevailing spirit of irreligion and worldiness is 
a great achievement of grace; but it is an achievement 
essential both to our personal spiritual prosperity and 



54- True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

to our efficiency as workers together with God. 
Doubt will paralyze our spiritual forces. A heart 
not fixed in God, not " rooted and grounded in love," 
will give no bloom of spiritual beauty to the cheek, 
no luscious inviting fruits to the life. " As ye have 
therefore received, Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk 
ye in him : rooted and built up in him, and established 
in the faith as ye have been taught, abounding therein 
with thanksgiving." 

The duty is the more urgent because of the ac- 
tivity of the adversary. He has his emissaries in every 
walk of life. In the workshop, the counting-room, 
the factory, the office, in every social gathering, in 
the school, in the home; everywhere and always are 
they at work; by every art known the father of lies, 
they are seeking to ensnare the unwary and lure them 
from the path of purity and safety. The light of the 
word of life alone will discover to them the cheat and 
save them from the wiles of the devil. Hold it forth. 

It is a joy to know that, whatever may be said of 
the prevalence of unbelief, the Christian faith has 
never been more vigorous, more active, and more 
fruitful that at the present time. Never was the 
gospel making more rapid strides or achieving 
grander results. Let the followers of Christ measure 
up to the opportunities and demands of the hour, 
and ere long all the nations will feel the quickening, 
saving power of the word of life. 



Repentance a Law. 



" There were present at that season some that told Him of the Galileans, 
whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering 
said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Gali- 
leans, because they suffered such things ? I tell you, Nay: but except ye repent, 
ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam 
fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in 
Jerusalem ? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. " — 
Luke xiii, 1-5. 

We have in the text a record of two historical facts : 
The slaying of certain Galileans by Pilate while they 
were offering their sacrifices, and the killing of eigh- 
teen men by the falling of a tower in Siloam. The 
first was related to Christ by some who " were present 
at that season;" the second was related by Christ 
in his reply. One of these facts, the falling of the 
tower and its consequences, belonged to the realm 
of nature; the other, the slaughter of the Galileans, 
to the realm of civil or political life. But while they 
may be thus classified, they have also a moral and 
religious import and bearing. There is some fun- 
damental element common to each of them which 
the great Teacher makes the ground-work of a 
common lesson and warning. Though they belong 
to different spheres and are totally different in 
character, in his view each teaches the indispensable 
necessity of repentance, and the certainty of destruc- 
tion without repentance. 

[55] 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



The connection between the events and the lesson 
deduced from them is somewhat obscure. He could 
not have meant that unless they repented they would 
all perish by the sword of Pilate, as did those Gali- 
leans; or be crushed to death by falling towers, as 
were those men in Siloam. In repentance there is 
no guarantee of security against the wrongs of ty- 
ranny, or against natural disasters; whereas it does 
save from that perishing or destruction of which 
Christ speaks. The lesson and warning therefore 
belong to a sphere different from that of either of 
the facts. To ascertain as accurately as we may be 
able the connecting link between them, and what it 
is that gives point and emphasis to the lesson is our 
present purpose. 

I. In our interpretation of these and all similar 
events we are to exclude the idea that they are judicial 
or penal. Such was the popular notion. So thought 
Job's friends : " Is not thy wickedness great, and 
thine iniquities infinite? " said Eliphaz, " Therefore 
snares are round about thee, and sudden fear trou- 
bleth thee, and abundance of waters cover thee." So 
thought David's enemies, when they derisively asked, 
" Where now is thy God? " Such too was the opin- 
ion of the disciples when they asked, " Who did sin, 
this man or his parents, that he was born blind? x> 
Nor would we have to go very far or search very dili- 
gently even now to find persons holding this same 
view of the divine administration. 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 57 



There is unquestionably a connection between 
natural and moral evil. They stand to each other in 
the relation of cause and effect. All the physical evils 
that afflict the human family are effects of sin, the 
fruits of transgression. On no other theory can we 
explain the disorders of the natural world, the multi- 
form sufferings of sentient creatures, the misfor- 
tunes that blast our fairest hopes, the diseases that 
rack and destroy our bodies, the keener pains that 
tear our souls asunder and the heavier blows that 
break our hearts. A God of infinite wisdom, justice 
and love could not have been the author of that 
condition of things which we behold around us. Sin 
has brought all this wretchedness and ruin on our 
race. Had there been no transgression the glory of 
Eden would never have departed, and man, immor- 
talized in the image of his Maker, would have been 
a stranger forever to sorrow and death. But while 
natural evil is the effect, it is not the punish- 
ment of sin. Innocent children often suffer keenest 
anguish. They have no guilt to be punished. Among 
those Galileans whom Pilate slew, or those on whom 
the tower fell, may have been some of God's chosen 
ones; and the onset of the soldiery and the crash of 
the falling tower may have been but the signal for 
their triumphant enthronment amid the principalities 
of heaven. We know that one characteristic of the 
divine dispensations in every age has been their fre- 
quent apparent severity towards those most eminent 
4 



5 8 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



for their faith and the holiness of their lives. His 
most obedient and loving children have oftenest wept 
under the burdens and tribulations of life. We do 
not attempt to explain it, but accept as a fact of his 
administration, which is of itself a sufficient refutation 
of the notion, that because a man suffers in this life 
he is to be adjudged a criminal, and that the greater 
his sufferings the greater must be his criminality. 

II. In our interpretation we are to exclude also the 
idea of chance. Can there be under the government 
of God any such thing as an accident, a mere fortuity, 
an event coming to pass without efficient intelligent 
cause and without design? To this inquiry Christian 
philosophy responds with an emphatic negative. It 
teaches that God is to be seen in every work of 
nature and every event of providence — that there 
is nothing, however trivial it may appear to us, or 
however little it may affect the well-being of any 
creature of His hand, intelligent or unintelligent, that 
is for a moment unnoticed by Him or independent 
of Him. 

There are some who willingly recognize His hand 
in those events the cause and purpose of which they 
can readily discover and the justice and wisdom of 
which they approve. They thus limit God's opera- 
tions by their capacity to comprehend them; whereas 
His ways are as far above our ways, and His thoughts 
above our thoughts as the heavens are above the 
earth. This deification of human' intelligence is 
ludicrous; but this undeification of God is criminal. 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 59 



There are others who err in the opposite direction. 
They deem it unnecessary to recognize God in those 
things which they can explain on natural principles. 
To understand an event is, with them, to put it out 
of the special dominion of God. But where there is 
mystery, or where the instrumental causes are so 
remote or so complicated that they cannot be de- 
tected, there God's hand is to be acknowledged. The 
adoption of this principle would commit us to the 
proposition that " ignorance is the mother of de- 
votion." The less we know of God's works, and 
word, and ways, the more reverent and devout we 
will Be ! In proportion to our advance in knowledge 
will be our advance towards atheism ! 

Of course all such notions are to be repudiated. 
God is to be seen in everything, everywhere, always; 
in the ordinary as well as the extraordinary events 
of human history; in those occurrences whose causes 
are patent to the most casual observer as well as in 
those whose springs lie in the inaccessible depths of 
the infinite; in the gentle zephyr and genial shower 
no less than in the crashing hurricane and the de- 
vastating flood; in sorrow and tears, in disease and 
death, as truly as in joyous, healthful life. The only 
view that elevates, cheers and gladdens men under 
the pressure of life's difficulties, disappointments and 
sorrows, is that which represents God as absolute 
sovereign over all forces and agencies of the universe, 
and at the same time a compassionate Father who 



60 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

is good to all and whose tender mercies are over all 
his works. 

But the government of God is in no sense de- 
pendent upon circumstances. It is not a government 
of caprice or whim, a sort of haphazard arrangement, 
veering hither and thither, now one thing and now 
another, according to the ever varying conditions of 
the universe. Government implies law. God governs 
or works according to law. Such are the adjustments 
and adaptations contrived by infinite wisdom that 
certain causes are followed in an invariable order by 
certain effects. This regular order of sequence of 
events, or of cause and effect, is what science calls 
law, which " science falsely so called " would exalt 
to absolute supremacy. We accept the term, but 
interpret it as expressive simply of God's method of 
executing His own will or accomplishing His pur- 
poses. 

I. This order of sequence, or law, is universal. It 
reigns in the worlds above us and in the earth beneath 
us. Every movement of the natural universe and 
every result of such movement is according to law. 
Without it science would be impossible; for science is 
but the discovery, formulation and study of causes 
and effects, or the laws reigning in the various depart- 
ments of human research. We cannot forecast what 
future investigations may disclose; but we already 
know that no field of inquiry has been entered that 
did not at once reveal the presence' and authority of 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 61 



law. It confronts us at every step that we take. 
It touches us at every point of our being, and in every 
relation that we sustain. It grasps us with hooks 
of steel. We can no more get away from its control 
than we can get away from our own being. 

2. It is uniform in its operation. It does not pro- 
duce one effect to-day and a totally different effect 
to-morrow. The law of gravitation does not preserve 
order in the material universe at one period and 
create or allow confusion at another. Its results are 
the same now as on the morning of creation. So 
with all laws of the natural world of which we have 
any knowledge. The same is true of the world of 
mind, of thought, feelirg and volition. Indeed 
nothing can be called law which has not this element 
of uniformity. Generalization must show that the 
order of sequence is invariable before the scientific 
man will write it down as a law. 

3. It is irresistible in its movement and certain in 
its issue. It is silent and unobserved, perhaps un- 
known; but its movement is as majestic as the march 
of God; its aim is unerring. Put yourself in its way, 
cross its path, and it will grind you to powder. Its 
forces are all on your side, ministering to your happi- 
ness and security so long as you are in conformity 
with it; but ignore or oppose it, and it moves against 
you with the energy of omnipotence. Escape from 
its penalties is impossible. 

But the universe is not an automaton. It did not 



62 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



create and does not govern itself. It is under law, 
it is true. But law cannot originate, execute, and 
perpetuate itself. It must have intelligence back of 
it, above it, in it. In itself considered it is unintelli- 
gent, inert, dead; it is nothing. It is vital, controlling, 
mighty, only by virtue of the divine intelligence and 
energy ever present in it and operating through it. 
Above all, and through all, and in all, is God, super- 
intending, directing, and controlling every cause 
in the production of every effect, and in the evolution 
of the wondrous system of his providence. 

If these views be correct, the slaying of those Gali- 
leans was not simply a capricious act of cruelty on 
the part of a bloodthirsty tyrant; but was an effect 
of an antecedent cause, or a combination of causes. 
That cause may have been in the well-known tur- 
bulent spirit of the Galileans; or in Pilate's hostility 
to Herod, whose subjects they were; or in that general 
state of unrest and dissatisfaction which could be held 
in check only by the iron hand of military power. 
It may have been in the people, cr it may have been 
in their ruler. At all events there was an efficient 
cause of which their perishing was the sequence. And 
wherever and whenever like conditions exist in 
government and in its subjects like tragedies will 
occur. The men on whom the tower in Siloam fell 
were slain by natural law, the law of gravitation. 
Moral character had nothing to do with their death. 
It was the natural and necessary effect of a natural 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



63 



cause. Any one else, however saintly, would have 
perished under the same circumstances. 

III. At this point we touch a connecting link be- 
tween the historic facts of the text and the solemn 
lesson and warning deduced from them. 

As a material being man is subject to the laws that 
govern the material world. The disregard or viola- 
tion of those laws will issue with unerring certainty 
in the suffering of penalty. Neither penitence and 
prayer nor subsequent right living can avert it. The 
cause existing, the effect is sure. But man belongs 
also to the social and civil world. He sustains cer- 
tain necessary relations to his fellow-man and to the 
government under which he lives. He is under the 
laws that govern these relations. He may be an 
ignorant or an unwilling subject; but that does not 
affect the question of their sovereignty over him. 
Willing or unwilling he cannot live in absolute isola- 
tion and independence. It follows that he is subject 
to the penalties affixed to the violation of the laws 
of these relations. And how surely, though some- 
times slowly, the penalty follows the violation no 
student of human history, or of the times in which we 
live, can have failed to observe. 

But he is also a moral and spiritual being. He 
belongs to a realm far above the merely material; 
above the sentient; above the social and political. 
He has never been able to completely shake off the 
conviction of his kinship to the invisible and eternal, 



64. True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

and of his accountability to a supreme being. The 
savage knows that there is a God, and " seeks him, 
if haply he may feel after him and find him; " and 
though " in his blindness he bows down to wood and 
stone," in doing so he gives proof of his inborn 
feeling of moral responsibility to a higher power. 
Men cannot educate themselves into the belief that 
their destiny in no higher than that of the brute 
creation. The glare of the most splendid culture 
cannot wholly blind them to the mighty future that 
awaits them. Nowhere and at no time has God 
" left himself without witness." Whether men would 
or not, He makes them know something of the 
dignity of their nature and of their exalted relation- 
ship and destiny. 

It were idle to suppose that law reigns less ab- 
solutely in this loftier sphere than in the lower; or 
that it is less uniform and irresistible in its operation 
and certain in its results. God is the same whether 
in time or in eternity. His will is the expression of 
himself, whether that expression be in the laws of 
nature or in the^laws of the moral and spiritual uni- 
verse. He cannot be true to himself in one depart- 
ment of his empire and untrue in another. " The 
good pleasure of his will " is just as sure of accom- 
plishment in the spiritual as in the natural world. 

In dealing with us as spiritual beings, He mani- 
fests His matchless kindness. In the natural world 
we are left to our own intelligence and enterprise. 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 65 

We can ascertain its laws only by patient research. 
But the laws of the spiritual kingdom He has been 
pleased to reveal. " At sundry times and in divers 
manners He spake in time past unto the fathers by the 
prophets," and " hath in these last days spoken unto 
us by his Son." In this revelation He has defined for 
us our position, relations and duties. He publishes 
His law, authenticates it to our reason and conscience, 
and specifies its sanctions. This He has done so 
plainly that no one need be in doubt as to its im- 
port, or hope to plead ignorance in extenuation of 
criminality. 

The great Teacher has summarized the law for us; 
" Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked Him 
a question, tempting Him, and saying, Master, which 
is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said 
unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
mind. This is the first and great commandment. 
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy 
neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments 
hang all the law and the prophets." 

But who of all our race, from Adam until now, has 
not violated this law; not once only, but often; not in 
one way only, but in ways without number? Instead of 
love surpreme, the dominant feeling and force in the 
human heart is " enmity against God." The life is 
but the expression of this enmity. Not simply forget- 
fulness of God and disregard of His claims, but posi- 



66 True Heroism and Other Sermons, 



tive alienation and active hostility is the attitude of 
the carnal mind towards Him. The result is that 
" judgment has come upon all men unto condemna- 
tion; " the sentence of death has " passed upon all 
men, for that all have sinned." Will the sentence 
be executed? Unquestionably. Law without penalty 
is a nullity; and penalty unexecuted is a nullity. 
Failure in the execution of the penalty is the nul- 
lification of the law, and the nullification of the 
law is the dethronement of the lawgiver. If God 
be God and law be law, penalty, however dread- 
ful, must of necessity follow violation. The Son of 
God, the brightness of His Father's glory and the 
express image of His person, undertook to rescue the 
race from its peril. How did He do it? Not by 
annulling the law or abating one jot or tittle from its 
demands, but by putting Himself in the pathway of 
its resistless march and receiving and enduring in 
His own person all the bitterness and anguish of its 
curse. As it is written, " Christ hath redeemed us 
from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." 
Infinite tribute is thus paid to the inviolability and 
majesty of law, and absolute guarantee is given for 
its execution. 

The death of Christ was " a full, perfect, and suffi- 
cient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins 
of the whole world." But it did not abrogate a 
single statute of the divine code. Nor did it insure 
the salvation of any of our race except infants and 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 6y 



idiots, and such adults as, from conditions which they 
did not create and could not control, are still in mental 
and moral infancy. But it did introduce a temporary 
reign of grace. But grace is not lawless. It is full, 
free, and infinitely efficacious; yet its administration 
is under conditions or laws as immutable as the divine 
nature. The fulness of the redemption that is in 
Christ Jesus avails nothing to him who disregards 
any of these conditions. 

The first word of grace to sinful men is, Repent. 
The forerunner of Christ began his preaching with 
the words, " Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven 
is at hand." Jesus began His public ministry with 
the same words. Paul, preaching to the Athenians, 
said, " And the times of this ignorance God winked 
at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to 
repent." Quotations might be multiplied almost in- 
definitely. The conclusion is that repentance is not 
simply a privilege of which a man may or may not 
avail himself according to his own pleasure, but an 
unalterable statute of the kingdom of grace. It is 
backed by competent authority — the same authority 
that on Sinai said, " Thou shalt have no other Gods 
before Me." It is enforced by adequate sanction, 
a terrific penalty, " Except ye repent ye shall all like- 
wise perish." Its execution is as certain as infinite 
power can make it. 

No elaborate definition of this law is necessary. 
The prophet expresses its demand clearly and fully 



68 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



when he says, " Let the wicked forsake his way, and 
the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return 
unto the Lord." " Put away the evil of your doings 
from before Mine eyes." It is more than a knowledge 
and confession of sin, a sorrow for it and a weeping 
over it; it may include these; but the absolutely es- 
sential element, that without which all other exercises 
of the soul are unavailing, is the immediate, uncondi- 
tional, complete and final renunciation of sin. Any- 
thing less than this is not repentance, and therefore 
does not satisfy the claim of this law. The man who 
stops short of this has nothing to expect but the 
penalty of a dishonored statute. 

This penalty is variously expressed. It is " indig- 
nation and wrath, tribulation and anguish; " it is 
" everlasting punishment; " " outer darkness; " " de- 
struction from the presence of the Lord, from the 
glory of His power." The meaning of these represen- 
tations is gathered up and condensed in one word, 
perish. We know what it is for objects around us 
in nature to perish. We know what it is for men to 
perish by fire, or on the battle-field, or in the storm 
at sea. But what is it for a soul to perish? Or what 
is the death of the body when compared with that of 
the soul? What are the keenest pangs that can 
attend its dissolution when compared with the worm 
that dieth not and the fire that is not quenched? 
The bodily pain is soon past; the soul's pain is eternal. 
It is death that never dies; a perishing that never 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 69 



reaches a climax. It is withering, blasting disap- 
pointment, bitter self-reproach, sullen, hopeless de- 
spair, pitiless remorse, all intensified by the know- 
ledge of what might have been, and perpetual 
through all the ages. The wreck of a human soul! 
Who can conceive of the horror of its ruin ! Happy 
the lot of the thief on the cross; happy the lot of the 
victims of inquisitorial tortures, or of the direst suf- 
ferings that human ingenuity and hate can inflict, 
when compared with the woes of a lost soul. 

A soul is lost ! A soul is lost ! 

While countless ages roll. 
Mourn winds and floods ! Mourn heaven and earth ! 
Of mortal and immortal birth, 

All mourn a lost, lost soul ! 

Souls have perished by the million. They are 
perishing now. Gospel light is blazing around them; 
gospel invitations and promises are sounding in their 
ears; the Spirit is striving with them; and yet they 
are perishing. And God is too good not to permit 
them to perish. Every interest of His kingdom re- 
quires that the authority of law be maintained. But 
men will not submit; they will not repent; they will 
not yield to a requirement so simple, so reasonable, 
so honorable as the putting away of the evil of their 
doings. There is nothing left for them but to perish. 
There is nothing left for a God of love to do but to 
let the law take its course, or else introduce distrust, 



yo True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

dismay, and anarchy into His kingdom. " Unto Thee, 
O Lord,belongeth mercy : for Thou renderest to every 
man according to his work." 

While the law may be a terror to the evil-doer, it 
is the safeguard of the upright citizen. It is his friend, 
his protector, both when he wakes and w 7 hen he 
sleeps. So the law of repentance, while dooming to 
hopeless destruction the impenitent, insures the safety 
of the penitent. " Except ye repent ye shall all like- 
wise perish; " but if ye repent ye shall be saved; God 
will have mercy upon you and abundantly pardon all 
your iniquities, guide you by his counsel through life 
and afterwards receive you to glory. 



Saul, the Pharisee. 



" I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee." — Acts xxiii, 6. 

Saul first appears in gospel history in connection 
with the martyrdom of Stephen. He was a willing 
and approving spectator of his death. He was then 
a young man, probably between twenty-five and 
thirty years of age. But his character was well ma- 
tured; his opinions were formed; and his convictions 
were deeply rooted in his intellectual and moral being. 
He was a fully developed Pharisee, both in theory 
and in life. He says of himself : " After the most 
straitest sect I lived a Pharisee." According to the 
Pharisees' interpretation of the law, and of tradition, 
which with them had all the authority of law, he 
was blameless. He had all the scrupulousness of his 
sect with respect to religious observances, all their 
self-righteousness and intolerance, together with the 
fiery zeal of an ardent, impulsive nature. 

But his religious character was not a spontaneous 
growth; nor was it entirely or even chiefly the result 
of his own studies. He had freedom of will, it is true, 
and might have been a Sadducee, an Essene or an 
idolatrous apostate. But all the influences that op- 
erated on him from the cradle to maturity tended 
to make him just what he was; and scarcely anything 

[7i] 



J 2 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



less than such a miracle as occurred while he was on 
his way to Damascus could have made him anything 
else. 

He was a native of Tarsus, the capital city of Cili- 
cia, a fertile and densely populated province of the 
Roman Empire in Asia Minor. The population of 
Tarsus was composed of Cilicians and other Asiatics, 
Romans, Greeks and Jews. The commerce of the 
city was very extensive. It was wealthy, luxurious, 
licentious, and like Athens, with the exception of its 
Hebrew population, was wholly given to idolatry. 
It was renowned also for its literary culture. Its 
schools rivaled those of Athens and Alexandria. 
Augustus made it a free city. Either by virtue of this 
act of grace on the part of the Emperor, or as a 
reward for some special service, Saul's father enjoyed 
the immunity of a Roman citizen. Hence said he, 
" I was free born." 

How far these surroundings of his childhood af- 
fected his subsequent life it is impossible for us to 
determine. It is plain that he saw nothing in the 
corruption and excesses of the Gentiles to attract 
him; they tended rather to awaken in him a disgust 
for the pagan civilization and to intensify his love for 
the religion of his fathers. The seductions that 
attract and destroy some men are profoundly re- 
pugnant to others. They recoil from them, and by 
their recoil become more firmly established in vir- 
tuous principles. Thus the very wickedness of Tar- 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



73 



sus, so flagrant and unblushing, may have contri- 
buted to the quickening of virtuous emotions and the 
unfolding of religious sentiment and character in 
the young Hebrew. 

It is very probable that much of his classic culture 
is due to his residence in Tarsus. He shows in his 
epistles an acquaintance with several of the Greek 
poets of minor fame, and with the philosophy, my- 
thology, and social habits of the Gentiles. 

It was there also that he learned the trade of a 
tent-maker. There was the good custom among the 
Jews of requiring all boys, whatever the position and 
circumstances of their parents, to learn some useful 
trade. All useful trades are honorable. That of 
tent-maker was both honorable and profitable. The 
material for the cloth was supplied by the goats of 
Cilicia, and a ready market was found both at home 
and abroad. This trade served him a good turn in 
his after life on more occasions than one. It enabled 
him to say to the churches, " I was chargeable to none 
of you, but labored with mine own hands." 

If we look into his immediate family and home 
life, we shall find that, from his infancy, there were 
powerful Judaic influences operating upon him, and 
all helping to make him what he became in his man- 
hood. 

The Jews at this time were divided into Arameans 
and Hellenists, so-called from the languages which 
they spoke. The former comprised the Jews of 
5 



74- True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



Palestine and the countries east and north. These 
spoke the Chaldaic and Syriac languages, which were 
dialects of the Aramaic. The latter comprised the 
Jews of the west and south, who spoke the Greek or 
some one of its dialects. The former used the Scrip- 
tures of their fathers; the latter the Septuagint, a 
Greek translation, which was made and published at 
Alexandria, in Egypt, in the third century before 
Christ. The former were true to Jerusalem, its tem- 
ple and worship, and scrupulously observed the 
sacred festivals. The latter built a temple and for a 
short time offered their ceremonial worship at Alex- 
andria. The former held to the law and to the tra- 
ditions of the elders as its only admissible but au- 
thoritative commentary. So jealous were they of the 
introduction of foreign ideas that they pronounced 
a curse on any one who taught his sons the learning 
of the Greeks. The latter were more liberal in spirit; 
with the Greek language they imbibed much of the 
Grecian spirit, yielded to the charm of its culture, 
adopted many of its habits of thought, and to a large 
extent incorporated its philosophy with their religion. 
The Judaism of the Hellenists was a combination of 
Mosaism and Platonism. 

Saul's father, though living in what might be called 
a Greek city, was an Aramean. His language was 
the Hebrew. All his religious thinking and pre- 
judices were deeply averse to the free thought of the 
Hellenists. The ancestral faith and worship and the 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



75 



peculiar and exclusive privileges of his people were 
the foundation and capstone of his moral life. Like 
his son he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. 

But his own section of the people — the Aramean — 
was divided into different parties of different tenets 
and shades of belief. There were the Zealots, who 
were political and religious fanatics, whose religion 
consisted chiefly in hatred of the Roman power and 
zeal for the liberation of Israel; and the Herodians, 
who saw in the power of the family of Herod the 
pledge of the preservation of their national existence 
and the fulfillment of their Messianic hopes; and the 
Essenes, who retired from the great centers of reli- 
gious, political and commercial life and occupied 
themselves with the dreams of mysticism and the 
austerities of asceticism; and the Sadducees, who re- 
jected the doctrines of the resurrection and the ex- 
istence of angels and spirits — who adhered to the 
moral precepts of the law, but opposed tradition and 
formalism. They were the rationalists of the age. 

But the most numerous and powerful of all their 
sects were the Pharisees. Though excluded by Herod 
from high official positions, their influence with the 
masses of the people was almost unlimited. They 
were the inheritors of that exalted type of Judaism 
by which religion was reformed and restored on the 
return from captivity. But had the reformers, Ezra 
and Nehemiah, returned at the time of which we 
speak, they would not have recognized the inheri- 



76 



Trite Heroism and Other Sermons. 



tance. Dry and scenic observances, vestments and 
attitudes had supplanted the life and power of godli- 
ness. There were no doubt upright, though mis- 
taken, souls among them; but as a party they were 
given up to forms and ceremonies — not only such as 
their law enjoined, but all that tradition imposed or 
the ingenuity of their elders could invent. The spirit 
and principle of these observances was essentially in- 
terested and mercenary. By this means they thought 
to create merit for themselves before God. There 
was merit in tithing mint, and anise, and cummin. 
Merit in alms, in repentance, fasting, faith and prayer. 
The greater their exactness with respect to the tradi- 
tional minutiae of religion, the more frequent their 
fasts and the longer their prayers, the greater their 
merit and the surer their title to heaven. It is not 
surprising that an arrogant self-righteousness should 
have been the result of this belief. The Pharisee was 
nothing more than consistent when he said to others : 
" Stand thou by thyself : come not near me, for I am 
holier than thou." We may learn something of their 
idea of their worth in God's estimation from these 
words of one of their sages : " Each Hebrew is worth 
more before God than all the people who have been 
or shall be." Surely spiritual pride and self-suffi- 
ciency could not go beyond this ! 

Saul's father was of this sect. His Aramaic preju- 
dices led him to reject everything that savored of the 
liberalism of the Hellenists, while his Phariseeism 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



77 



constrained him to observe both what was written 
in the law and what had been handed down from one 
generation of their elders to another, with the ever 
accumulating exactions of a hard and lifeless for- 
malism. 

In this atmosphere Saul was born, and from the 
moment his mind and heart began to unfold and re- 
ceive impressions from his mother's songs or his 
father's eye and mien, or the surroundings and con- 
duct of their home life, he began to be a Pharisee. 
His father's broad phylacteries, long prayers, fre- 
quent fastings, and multiform observances, could not 
fail to exert a profund influence upon him. More- 
over, as physical defects or excellencies are often 
hereditary, so may be a religious bias and intellectual 
peculiarities. It was said of a certain man that " he 
was born a Covenanter." When we think of the long 
line of Saul's ancestry, all characterized by the same 
modes of thought and the same prepossessions, and 
the same exalted conceptions of their exclusive privi- 
leges and dignity, it is not too much to say that he 
was born a Pharisee. When to his inbred proclivities 
we add the example and counsel of the father, we 
scarcely see how the current of his life could have 
taken any other direction. 

It was a saying of the Talmud that " At five years 
of age the sacred studies should be commenced; at 
ten the youth should devote himself to tradition; at 
thirteen he should know and fulfill the command- 



78 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



ments of the Lord; at fifteen he should perfect his 
studies." Beginning such a rigorous course of in- 
struction and discipline at such a tender age one of 
two results must follow — either aversion and disgust 
or interest and proficiency. The latter was the result 
with Saul. He not only entered with zeal on these 
studies but became eminently proficient and so thor- 
oughly indoctrinated as to win, while yet a young 
man. the admiration and confidence of so grave a 
body as the Sanhedrim. 

While yet a boy he was sent to Jerusalem to com- 
plete his education. He was placed in the school of 
Gamaliel, the most celebrated Rabbi of his age. A 
famous precept of the Rabbins was.. " Set a hedge 
about the law and make many disciples; ?? that is. 
preserve the national institutions by a rigorous tra- 4 
dition and teach the traditions in numerous schools. 
These schools succeeded the ancient schools of the 
prophets. There were several of them in Jerusalem. 
That of Gamaliel was the most thoroughly orthodox 
and the most popular. He appears to have been the 
most skillful of all the doctors of the law. There are 
indications that he was less in bondage to the spirit 
of a narrow literalism than many others; yet he did 
not go beyond the standpoint of a pure legalism. He 
was not a man to delude the conscience, but was 
honest and sincere in his beliefs and outspoken in 
their expression and defence. But his evident candor 



True Heroism and Other Sermons, yg 



only increased his power and gave to his Phariseeism 
a deeper and stronger hold on his pupils. 

Saul embraced his teaching with all the moral 
earnestness and ardor and infused into it all the pas- 
sionate vehemence of his nature. Gifted with a 
strong and keen intellect, in a few years he acquired 
all the learning of his master. 

His education is now complete. The process be- 
gun in his father's house and finished under Gamaliel 
could scarcely have had a different issue. He comes 
forth from the feet of his teacher with his mind 
filled with the most exalted and exaggerated views 
of the prerogatives of his people, their ancient dignity 
and coming glory, and his spirit thoroughly imbued 
with love for his religion and zeal for its advancement. 
In the completeness of his devotion he could see no 
excellence in, and had no toleration for, anything else. 
He is a full-grown Pharisee. 

We now lose sight of him for a season. But great 
religious events were taking place in Jerusalem. 
Jesus has died, arisen from the dead, and ascended 
to heaven. Pentecost has come. The inspiration of 
the Galilean fishermen, and their works and preach- 
ing, is shaking the ancient hierarchy to its foundation. 
The holy city and the surrounding country are in 
commotion. A mighty revolution is taking place. 
Every day it gathers strength and momentum. The 
scribes and doctors, the priests and elders of the 
people see themselves about to be set at nought, 



So True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



their power broken and their sanctity and wisdom de- 
spised. A man with Saul's intense religious feeling 
and strong convictions could not be quiet at such 
a time. Nor could he see the people becoming obe- 
dient to the faith and following such guides as Peter, 
James, John and Stephen, without having his soul 
as deeply stirred within him as when he afterwards 
looked on the idolatry of Athens. His pride, his 
self-righteousness, his devotion to the law, his love 
of ritualism, every element of his Phariseeism was 
shocked and insulted by the new faith. He seemed 
at length to regard the preaching, praying and 
miracle working of the disciples, and the believing 
of the people as an affront personal to himself. His 
deepest hatred was awakened. From a spectator on 
the occasion of Stephen's death we find him next en- 
tering private houses and arresting men and women 
and committing them to prison, and by every means 
in his power distressing and making havoc of the 
church. 

This was his Phariseeism in full fruitage. It was 
the natural product of the education he had received 
and the beliefs he had adopted. Like exclusiveness 
and self-righteousness will always produce like re- 
sults. Intolerance is its natural off-spring and when- 
ever occasion may arise, it will not scruple at open 
violence. This has often been illustrated in the his- 
tory of the people of God. Romish intolerance and 
persecution of dissenting believers, and Christian 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 81 



intolerance and persecution of the Jews, are but the 
outgrowth of the Pharisaic spirit. The Christianity 
of such bigotry is but a dead formalism, as destitute 
of the spirit of piety and as offensive to God as the 
dead carcass is destitute of life and offensive to us. 

With respect to Saul's Phariseeism as thus de- 
veloped into open hostility to the cause of Christ it 
must be admitted that it was honest. The Saviour 
repeatedly characterized the Pharisees as hypocrites, 
mere pretenders to piety. But while this was true 
of them as a class, it cannot be doubted that there were 
sincere and devout individuals among them. Such was 
Nicodemus, who came to Jesus by night, and who 
afterwards became his disciple. Such, too, we believe, 
was Gamaliel, Saul's instructor. His disinterested in- 
tervention in behalf of the church in Jerusalem and 
his wise counsels mark him as a man of just, upright 
and elevated spirit. The same was no doubt true of 
others. With respect to Saul there is not the slightest 
shadow of an imputation of insincerety or dishonesty 
resting upon him. The creed of Phariseeism was not 
with him a merely speculative theory. It was to him 
the truth of God. His intellect accepted it and en- 
dorsed it, his yearning heart received and loved it; 
his life consistently illustrated it. I-n the practice of 
its precepts and the observance of its ritualism, and 
in pushing it to the extreme of persecuting the fol- 
lowers of Jesus, he verily believed that he was doing 
God service and would thereby win a place in heaven 



82 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



It is not surprising that it was such a vital force 
within him. Strongly " rooted and grounded " in 
his intellect, it touched, quickened and energized his 
moral sensibilities and moved and controlled his will. 
It leavened the entire man. He was its incarnation. 
His life was an accurate and comprehensive exposi- 
tion of its spirit and principles. He tells us that as 
touching the righteousness of the law he was blame- 
less. There had been no wilful neglect of any duty 
or demand of the law so far as outward observance 
was concerned. Every injunction and every prohi- 
bition, moral and ceremonial, as he understood it, 
had been faithfully observed. How potential must 
have been his faith, and how comprehensive and com- 
plete his obedience. Phariseeism had done its ut- 
most; Saul is the highest expression and the best 
product of its moral and spiritual power. 

But the very best that Phariseeism could do falls 
far short of the soul's deliverance from sin and ulti- 
mate safety. " I say unto you, That except your 
righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the 
Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into 
the kingdom of heaven." The most perfect Pharisee 
is outside the kingdom, and if he never gets beyond 
Phariseeism he is lost forever. 

I. Sincerity is not salvation. Saul followed the 
convictions of both judgment and conscience. Yet 
he afterwards learned that he was terribly wrong. 
A man may be perfectly sincere in believing a lie. 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 8j 



It is truth, not falsehood, that saves. The God of 
truth could never put such honor on falsehood. 

2. Faith is not salvation. Saul believed a great 
deal of truth, revealed truth. He believed it heartily 
and practiced it conscientiously. But it was not 
saving truth. He had a mighty faith, as his devotion 
proved. But he refused to believe, and hated and 
persecuted those who did believe, the only truth that 
can save the sinner. 

3. Morality it not salvation. " All these (com- 
mandments) have I kept from my youth up," said the 
young man. " One thing thou lackest," replied the 
Master. " Touching the righteousness which is in 
the law, blameless," is Saul's record. No external 
obedience could be more complete, no life from a 
legal standpoint could be more irreproachable. Yet 
as he looks back upon that life in after years, he calls 
himself the chief of sinners and is filled with wonder 
at the grace that could forgive and save him. All 
his morality he counted but loss. 



Saul, the Christian Convert. 



"Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. 
And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogue, that He is the Son of 
God." — Acts ix, 19, 20. 

We have seen Saul, the Pharisee. He was honest 
in his Phariseeism. He believed in it, and loved it 
with all his heart. He was thoroughly inbued with 
its spirit. He was self-righteous, bigoted, intolerant. 
His intolerance broke out into violent, relentless per- 
secution of the followers of Christ. He made havoc 
of the church. He arrested both men and women, 
shut them up in prison, and when they were brought 
before the Sanhedrim for trial, gave his vote against 
them. He aimed at nothing less than the complete 
extinction of the church. 

Jerusalem soon became too limited a field for his 
active zeal. The persecution waged by him and his 
co-religionists resulted in the scattering of the Chris- 
tians abroad. As they went they preached the word 
and made converts to the faith. Thus the means 
whereby he had hoped to extirpate the church re- 
sulted only in its enlargement. This was more than 
his Phariseeism, now inflamed to the highest pitch 
of fanaticism, could bear. He determined to 
follow the flying disciples and hunt them to 

[84] 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 85 

death. With this intent he went to the high- 
priest and obtained from him a commission to 
go to Damascus and arrest any of " this way " 
whom he might find there, and bring them bound to 
Jerusalem. With an escort supplied by the authori- 
ties, or companions whom he had chosen because of 
their sympathy with him, he set out on his journey. 
Five or six days' travel brought him near Damascus. 
It was about mid-day as he entered the shaded avenue 
leading to the gates of the city. He was still " breath- 
ing out threatenings and slaughter." No relentings 
had been kindled in his soul. There had been no 
ebbing of his hate, no faltering of his purpose to 
overthrow the new faith by the destruction of its 
adherents. 

We pass over a brief period of only three days, and, 
strange to tell, we find him " with the disciples; " with 
them not as an enemy, with authority to arrest and 
imprison them, but as a fellow-believer and brother; 
and not only with them but " preaching Christ in the 
synagogues, that He is the Son of God." In the 
very place which but three days before he expected 
to make the scene of violence and outrage, and in 
fellowship with the very persons whom he intended 
to make the victims of his furious zeal, he is fearlessly 
proclaiming the eternal power and godhead of Jesus 
of Nazareth, and thus setting the seal of condemna- 
tion on his countrymen and on his own past life, and 



86 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



attesting the truth of the faith which he came to 
destroy. 

It is not surprising that those who " heard him 
were amazed, and said, Is not this he that destroyed 
them that called on this name in Jerusalem, and came 
hither for that intent?" No doubt the Jewish as- 
semblies were profoundly moved when they heard it. 
Some men wondered; some wept; some gnashed their 
teeth in the frenzy of their disappointment; while a 
few, perhaps, cherished the forlorn hope that it was 
only a subtle strategem on his part the more surely 
to entrap and destroy them that believed in Christ. 

The disciples themselves could scarcely believe in 
the reality of the change. While they " rejoiced for 
the deliverance," they were bewildered by its strange- 
ness. Could it be that the storm-cloud which had 
come so near had suddenly dissolved into sunshine? 
Was the change real, complete, and would it be per- 
manent? Was he indeed to be henceforth their friend, 
and their colaborer in the work of the world's evange- 
lization? These were questions of absorbing interest 
to them, and are of no less importance to us. 

The fact of such a change of conduct is presump- 
tive proof of a change of sentiment and conviction. 
When we look at his impassioned earnestness, and 
witness the life, spirit, and power of his words, we 
feel that all this is not, cannot, be assumed; that he 
is not acting the hypocrite; but that his conviction of 
the truth of what he is now proclaiming is as profound 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 8y 

as had been his comtempt for it a few days before; 
and his love of Christ and His people as ardent as his 
hate had been cruel. And when we see that from that 
moment to the close of his life, despite privation, 
suffering, persecution, he continued " to testify the 
gospel of the grace of God " to both Jews and Greeks, 
and at last went to the scaffold for the testimony 
which he held, we cannot reasonably cherish the 
faintest doubt of the reality and completeness of the 
change wrought in him at Damascus. 

How are we to account for this sudden change — 
this instantaneous renunciation of worldly name and 
fame, and all the convictions and prejudices of his 
previous life, and his consecration to a cause which 
he had so bitterly despised and persecuted? 

Infidelity has had but few problems with which 
to grapple in either ancient or modern times more 
perplexing than this. Lord Lyttelton undertook its 
solution with the avowed purpose of destroying its 
credibility as a supernatural fact, and thus overturn- 
ing one of the strong pillars of the Christian faith. 
Instead of accomplishing his purpose, he was himself 
vanquished and converted, and gave to the world as 
the result of his studies a powerful argument for the 
truth of our holy religion. Every attempt to dis- 
credit it, either as a historical or a supernatural fact, 
has only demonstrated the weakness of its assailants 
and the truth and the power of the gospel of Christ. 

Let us recur to the narrative of what took place 



88 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



during those ever memorable three days over which 
we just now passed in silence. This narrative is given 
three times: once by Luke and twice by Saul him- 
self — first before his countrymen at Jerusalem, and 
afterwards in his defence before Herod Agrippa at 
Caesarea. It is as follows : " And as he journeyed, he 
came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined 
round about him a light from heaven: and he fell 
to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, 
Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, who 
art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, 
whom thou persecuted; it is hard for thee to kick 
against the pricks. And he, trembling and aston- 
ished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? 
And the Lord said, Arise, and go into the city, and 
it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the 
men which journeyed with him stood speechless, 
hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose 
from the earth; and when his eyes were opened he 
saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and 
brought him to Damascus. And he was three days 
without sight, and did neither eat nor drink." 
Ananias, divinely directed, sought him out, " and 
putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the 
Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way 
as thou earnest, hath sent me, that thou mightest re- 
ceive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. 
And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had 
been scales : and he received sight . forthwith, and 
arose, and w T as baptized." 



TRINITY M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH, RICHMOND, 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 89 

Some of the opponents of Christianity reject this 
narrative as an unhistorical and highly colored 
legend. They admit that there was a change in his 
opinions and life, but claim that this account of it 
is only a creation of the exuberant oriental imagina- 
tion. A very convenient method of disposing of an 
event wholly inexplicable from the standpoint of 
unbelief ! 

Others assume that Saul received certain impres- 
sions at the death of Stephen that unsettled his con- 
victions. As a consequence his conscience was ill 
at ease; he had secret misgivings that he was perse- 
cuting the truth; and already dissatisfied with his 
Phariseeism, his heart was yearning for the holy 
triumph and rest of martyred Stephen. As he came 
near Damascus in this perplexed and excited state of 
mind, he was overtaken by a violent thunderstorm. 
In the flash of the lightning he imagined that he saw 
the face of Jesus, and in the crash of the thunder 
heard His voice. Thus by purely natural phenomena 
he is converted to Christianity! 

In reply to such an interpretation it is enough to 
say that there is not the slightest indication that 
Saul's fanaticism had lost any of its violence up to 
the moment of his sudden arrest under the walls of 
Damascus; while it is the merest trifling to contend 
that the magnificent superstructure of his after life 
and labors could have been built on the delusive fan- 
cies of a heated imagination. Infidelity does far 



go True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

greater violence to reason and imposes a far heavier 
tax on human credulity than Christian orthodoxy. 

Examining this thrice told story and some of the 
many allusions to it in the Pauline Epistles, we are 
impressed with two facts : 

1. Jesus personally appeared to Saul. A heavenly 
light, brighter than that of the sun at mid-day, sud- 
denly shone around him, blinding and overpowering 
him by its splendor and prostrating him to the earth. 
But before his blindness and prostration he saw Jesus. 
It was not a dream; it was not an apparition; it was not 
wholly an internal revelation; it was a real, visible 
manifestation to his natural eyes. Ananias said to 
him, "Jesus, who appeared to thee." Barnabas, intro- 
ducing him to the disciples at Jerusalem, told them 
that " he had seen the Lord in the way." He himself 
asks the question, " Have I not seen the Lord 
Jesus? " and enumerating the witnesses of the resur- 
rection, he says, " and last of all He was seen of me 
also," — that is, seen by him in the same sense in which 
He had been seen by others; so that kis testimony 
and theirs rested on precisely the same ground — that 
of sight. 

2. Jesus spoke to Saul — addressed him in articulate 
speech. He revealed to him His name, reproached 
him for being His persecutor, made known to him 
the purpose for which He appeared to him, and 
directed him to go into the city where he would be 
told what he should do. Saul thus obtained a direct, 
personal knowledge of Christ, and claims that in this 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. gi 



particular he was not one whit behind those 
apostles who had companied with Jesus while in 
the flesh. 

This divine manifestation wrought in him an im- 
mediate and irresistible conviction of three great 
truths : 

1. That Jesus, though crucified, was still living. 
He had heard this before. Certain women and cer- 
tain Galileans had testified that they had seen Him 
alive; and many of the Jews at Jerusalem who had 
not seen Him steadfastly believed that He had risen 
from the dead. Saul had honestly believed it a dan- 
gerous delusion, and regarded those who held it as 
fanatics and heretics worthy only of bonds and death. 
But now Jesus meets him and gives to his bodily 
senses a demonstration of the fact, and of the truth 
of their testimony, and of the blindness and folly of 
his conduct. So complete in his conviction of this 
truth — that Jesus lives — that it becomes henceforth 
the inspiration of his life and the principal theme of 
his preaching. 

2. That Jesus was enthroned in divine glory. It 
was in the glory that He had with the Father before 
the world was that He appeared to Saul; and so pro- 
foundly conscious of his sovereign power did he at 
once become that his soul, hitherto so proud and self- 
sufficient, instantly bowed in humiliation and sub- 
mission before Him. Jesus not only lives, but is 
exalted above the principalities and powers in the 



92 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



heavenly places, " God over all, blessed forever." So 
strongly does this truth fasten itself in his mind that 
when he speaks to the people a few days afterwards, 
the divinity of Christ is the burden of his address : he 
preached in the synagogue that He is the Son of God. 
Peter, James and John could claim for Him no 
higher dignity that this. 

3. That there is oneness of life between Jesus and 
His followers. " Why persecutest thou Me? Who art 
Thou, Lord? I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest." 
He had persecuted, as he imagined, only men and 
women whom he regarded as apostates from the faith 
of the fathers, and in opposing them he believed 
that he was doing God service. But Jesus now con- 
fronts him with the question, " Why persecutest thou 
Me." He and they are one — so one that their suf- 
ferings are His sufferings, and to persecute them is to 
persecute Him. What a startling revelation! Jesus, 
the victim of Calvary, lives and reigns in glory, and 
is identified with his despised followers, and will de- 
fend and save them to the uttermost, and overwhelm 
their adversaries with utter confusion and destruc- 
tion. 

When Saul turns his mind, suddenly surcharged 
with these great truths, back upon his own heart and 
life, how intense must have been his agitation of soul ! 
In what terrific colors must his conduct have ap- 
peared, and how torturing must have been his re- 
morse of conscience. How deep and humbling his 
sense of that mercy that instead of abandoning him, 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



93 



had met him in inexpressible tenderness and pity. 
" I have persecuted Him, the exalted and glorified 
Jesus; yet He has not met me in wrath as I deserved, 
but in love has arrested my erring steps and called 
me to himself! " Here was grace, free, full, pitying 
grace, to the poor sinner. In its light he saw the 
magnitude of his guilt, and at the same time the 
length and depth and breadth and height of the grace 
of Christ. No wonder he became preeminently the 
apostle of grace and so magnified it in his preaching 
and in his letters to the churches. 

But accompanying these revelations of truth to 
his mind and these stirrings of his awakened con- 
science, there was a more vital process going forward 
in the inmost depths of his soul. Miraculous as was 
his arrest by the appearing and power of Jesus, the 
grandest miracle was the revelation of Jesus in the 
soul. So he thought and felt. When describing the 
event he names this as its central and most significant 
fact : " It pleased God to reveal His Son in me." And 
that revelation was more than a demonstration to his 
mind of the divine glory of Jesus, and more than 
those convictions of the judgment and conscience 
that resulted from that demonstration. It was a 
revelation of the love of Jesus, and of the saving 
power of Jesus, not to him, but in him, forgiving 
and renewing him, and lifting him from the depths of 
his fall to the dignity of a new and higher life. 

We hold, therefore, that his conversion was in- 



94 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



stantaneous; that he arose from the ground a changed 
man; in all his views and feelings and aims a new 
creature. 

It has been said by some that his conversion was 
not complete until Ananias laid his hands upon him 
and his sight was restored; and by others, that it was 
completed in his baptism. If nothing more is meant 
than that his external profession was perfected in 
these ceremonies, we grant it; if on the contrary it 
is claimed that the internal work was in any sense 
dependent on them, we demur. And for reason: 

1. If conversion were conditioned on the imposi- 
tion of hands and baptism, then the power of spiritual 
life and death is at the option of the priesthood. 
God has never conferred such a prerogative on any 
man or any class of men. 

2. Such an interpretation would be fatal to Paul's 
claim of absolute equality with the twelve in the 
apostolate. They were fitted for their office and 
brought into it by the Lord Himself; but Saul, on 
this theory, must be fitted for the sacred college and 
brought into it under the hand of Ananias — not a 
presbyter or deacon, but a layman in the church. 

3. Ananias said, " The Lord hath sent me that thou 
mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy 
Ghost." Receiving his sight was a purely physical 
phenomenon. An examination of the places in which 
the expression " filled with the Holy Ghost " occurs, 
shows that it is almost invariably used with respect 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 95 



to persons who have already received Christ unto 
salvation. It is nowhere used as the synonym of 
conversion, but as expressive of a special influence 
and work of the Spirit at some time after regeneration. 
If there was any additional work accomplished in 
Saul, or any new grace imparted to him when Ananias 
laid his hands upon him, the history, so minute in 
its details, is entirely silent with respect to it. 

No; the work was completed when Jesus met him 
in the way, not merely begun and left for human 
hands to finish. In its beginning, its progress and 
completion it was supernatural, wrought by the 
power of God the Holy Ghost. 

But though supernatural, Saul himself guards us 
against the thought that his own will was overborne 
or that he had no choice in the matter. Said he, 
" I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision " — 
langauge plainly implying the independence of his 
obedience. And he never speaks of his conversion at 
any subsequent time except in terms that indicate 
the freedom of his self-determination. It was when 
in complete submission of soul he surrendered to the 
will of Christ that the mighty work was done. 

On many of the particulars of this event in Saul's 
life we might dwell with interest and profit. But 
we conclude with two reflections. 

1. Its value as an argument for the truth of Chris- 
tianity. The character of Saul,, his early training, 
his discipline and devotion as a Pharisee, his inherited 



g6 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

and cultivated and deeply seated prejudices, his hon- 
esty and fidelity to his convictions, his worldly posi- 
tion and propects, his associations, all mark him as 
one of the last men on earth who would forsake his 
ancient faith. Add to this his undisguised contempt 
for the name of Jesus, his avowed hatred of Christi- 
anity, and his zealous efforts to exterminate the whole 
race of believers, and the last shadow of an antecedent 
presumption that he will ever become a Christian 
disappears. There is nothing in human nature and 
nothing in human history to justify an expectation 
of his conversion. Humanly speaking everything is 
against it. Yet this man is in a moment changed, 
completely changed — mind, heart, will, purpose, life, 
all changed. From the blasphemer and persecutor 
he becomes the humble adorer of Jesus, the boldest 
and mightiest preacher of the truth, the patient and 
joyful sufferer for its sake, and the instrument of 
blessing and salvation to myriads of his fellow men. 
If some mighty world had broken away from its orbit 
and dashing wildly through the universe was spread- 
ing disaster and destruction in its path, but, suddenly 
arrested by omnific power, was restored to its place, 
bound to its center and sent forward in harmony with 
its sister spheres on its mission of light and beauty 
and blessing, the miracle would have been far less 
astounding than such a change in such a man under 
such conditions. To account for it on natural prin- 
ciples is simply impossible. But if the 'gospel be true, 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



97 



if it be " the power of God unto salvation," every dif- 
ficulty vanishes, and we cease to wonder at its marvels 
of transforming and gloryfying grace. 

History tells us that Julian labored to destroy the 
church, and to cover with obloquy the name of its 
founder; but on his dying bed, feeling himself helpless 
and undone, he exclaimed " O Galilean, Thou hast 
conquered ! " But it was a conquest of His power and 
not of His grace. He met Saul, his furious enemy, on 
the field of Damascus, and with the sword of His word 
laid him in the dust at His feet; and the church of the 
Gentiles is the monument and the Gloria of the ages 
in the celebration of his victory. Let this triumph 
and its glorious fruits be proved a myth, or 

" Let every kindred, every tribe 
On this terrestrial ball, 
To Him all majesty ascribe, 
And crown Him Lord of all." 

2. It furnishes to the world a demonstration of the 
greatness and sufficiency of His grace. The power 
that could subdue Saul, and the love that could for- 
give him, can break the hardest heart, bring into 
captivity the most stubborn will, and pardon and save 
the chief of sinners. " Howbeit for this cause I ob- 
tained mercy," said he, " that in me first Jesus Christ 
might show forth all long suffering, for a pattern to 
them which should hereafter believe on Him to life 
everlasting." No one can read his history and yet 



g8 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



despair of mercy. If he, filled with madness against 
this way, the bloody persecutor of the saints, obtained 
mercy, so may I, so may all. " Now unto the King 
eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be 
honor and glory forever and ever. Amen." 



The Knowledge of the Forgiveness 
of Sins. 



" The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children 
of God." — Romans viii, 16. 

Is it possible for a man to know that his sins have 
been forgiven, or to have such an assurance of it as 
will give him rest and satisfaction of soul in relation 
to his personal salvation? This question we propose 
for a brief examination. Surely it is one in which 
every thoughtful person must feel a lively interest. 
Few subjects are of more vital importance. It is 
directly connected with and deeply affects our reli- 
gious life and experience. It is entitled to careful 
study. 

If such knowledge be attainable it must be the 
result of a supernatural communication to the soul. 
The forgiveness of sin is God's act. Our natural 
powers may, by certain simple processes, enable us to 
infer that such an act has taken place. But it is 
only an inference, nothing more. If it be known as 
a certainty, or a fact that no longer admits of doubt 
or debate, God must in some way make it known. 

I. It is certainly possible for Him to do so. We 
are the workmanship of His hands. Our intellectual 
and moral nature, as well as our body, is the creation 

[99] 



ioo True Heroism and Oilier Sermons. 

of His wisdom and power. It lives and moves and 
has its being in Him. To every part of this wonderful 
mechanism He has constant access, and with every 
part He is in constant contact. He can make upon 
it any impression or make to it any communication 
that His wisdom and love may suggest. To deny 
such a possibility is to deny His prerogative as the 
soul's Creator, and to call in question many declara- 
tions of His word. 

2. It is in a high degree probable that when God 
pardons a sinner He will in some way make the fact 
known. For a crime against the laws of his country 
a man is sentenced to imprisonment for life. For 
satisfactory reasons the Executive pardons him. The 
pardon is executed in due form, signed and sealed. 
What now? Will it be locked up as a state secret, 
never to be known beyond the Governor's office? 
or will it be transmitted to the convict, set him at 
liberty, and restore him to the duties and endearments 
of his home? A son has incurred the just displeasure 
of his father, and has been banished from his home. 
He wakes up to a realization of the evil of his course. 
He is filled with sorrow: he repents, and writes to 
his father confessing his sin, promising amendment, 
and begging forgiveness. The father is convinced 
of the genuineness of his repentance, and with all 
his heart forgives him. What now? Does he conceal 
the fact in his own bosom, or confine it to the home 
circle, or does he communicate it to' his repentant 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 101 

child and recall him to his home? A sinner comes 
with a broken and contrite heart to God for pardon 
and salvation. He comes with the warrant of a divine 
invitation, and a divine pledge of success. God is 
" faithful and just to forgive him his sins and to 
cleanse him from all unrighteousness." If it be not 
probable that the Executive will withhold the pardon 
from the convict, or the father keep the son in 
ignorance of forgiveness, so neither is it probable 
that God will conceal from the weeping penitent 
the gracious act that cancels his guilt and gives him 
a place in the divine family. He cannot be less 
gracious than an earthly ruler, or an earthly father. 

3. It is necessary that the fact of pardon should be 
made known to the soul. It is not a pardon if the 
convict must still wear his chains and languish in 
his cell. It is the merest mockery of fatherly good- 
ness if the son must still wander and suffer in exile. 
To be forgiveness in any true sense it must be opera- 
tive; it must bring liberty, restoration and comfort. 
The Saviour invites all that labor and are heavy laden 
to come to Him, and promises that they shall find 
rest unto their souls and shall be free indeed. But 
there can be no rest, no freedom, no peace, so long 
as the soul has no assurance of its forgiveness and 
acceptance with God. It must know it, or the word 
of God will be discredited by the experience of men; 
the hopes which it inspires, and the peace, joy, 
strength and triumph which it promises cannot be- 
come matters of fact in the Christian life. 



102 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



4. It is certain that God will make known to the 
penitent, believing soul the fact of forgiveness. To 
impart this knowledge entered into the plan and pur- 
pose of God when He sent His Son into the world. 
" When the fulness of time was come. God sent forth 
His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to 
redeem them that were under the law, that we might 
receive the adoption of sons; and because ye are sons, 
God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your 
hearts, whereby we cry Abba. Father.'' The adop- 
tion of sons, and with it all the privileges of sonship, 
thus entered into the original conception of redemp- 
tion. The work of Christ in its application to the 
soul fails of its aim if it falls short of this grace. 

But we have more than abstract declarations and 
promises with respect to the fruits of penitence and 
faith: we have illustrations in the lives of the saints, 
glorious demonstrations of the truth we are consid- 
ering. " By faith Abel offered unto God a more 
excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained 
witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his 
gifts." " By faith Enoch was translated that he 
should not see death: and was not found, because 
God had translated him; but before his translation he 
had this testimony, that he pleased God." Abraham 
is called " the friend of God; " and beyond question 
he knew that God was his friend. He would never 
have gone so willingly he knew not whither and dwelt 
so cheerfully as a stranger and pilgrim in the promised 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. ioj 



land, or given to the world such a magnificent exhi- 
bition of the obedience of faith in surrendering his 
son to the altar of sacrifice, had he not known beyond 
peradventure that God was with him in the plentitude 
of His resources and the fulness of his love. Job 
could say, " I know that my Redeemer liveth." David 
prayed, " Restore unto me the joy of Thy salva- 
tion " — a prayer without meaning if David had not 
previously known what the joy of salvation is. We 
need not further multiply examples. The Old Testa- 
ment abounds with proofs that even amid the shad- 
ows of that dispensation the servants of God rejoiced 
in the assurance of His favor and love. But that dis- 
pensation was as the early dawn to the noonday when 
compared with the day of Christ and the ministration 
of the Spirit. And if the saints enjoyed this gracious 
privilege then, for a much stronger reason may we 
expect to enjoy it now. Accordingly we find that 
not apostles and a favored few only, but multitudes 
in all ages of the church have rejoiced in this happy 
experience. " Ye are My witnesses," said the Master; 
Yes, gracious Lord, and we gladly speak the things 
we do know and testify that we have seen. We know 
that Thou hast power on earth to forgive sins; for 
though Thou wast angry with us, Thine anger is 
turned away and Thou comfortest us. 

If it be asked how God makes this communication 
to the soul, we refer the inquirer to the text for a 
reply : " The Spirit itself beareth witness with our 



io 4- True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



spirit that we are the children of God." Here are 
two witnesses. Their concurrent testimony is all- 
sufficient to establish the fact of our adoption. 

I. The testimony of the Holy Spirit. No one will 
question His competency as a witness except those 
who deny His personality. If the Scriptures mean by 
the Spirit nothing more than an attribute of God or 
an influence, emanating from Him, then the claim that 
He is a witness is untenable. An attribute or influence 
cannot testify to anything. But we hold that it is 
as easy to demonstrate the impersonality of the 
Father, or of the Son, as of the Spirit. The attributes, 
works and glory of the Father and the Son are as- 
cribed in the word equally and in the same sense to 
the Spirit. His offices in the economy of redemption 
are predicable only of a Person. Our fourth Article 
of Religion makes him co-equal with the Father and 
the Son — " of one substance, majesty, and glory, 
with the Father and the Son, very and eternal God." 
His personality and divinity .admitted, His perfect 
cognizance of the thoughts, purposes, and acts of the 
Eternal Father follows as a necessary consequence. 
Hence we read, " The Spirit searcheth all things, 
yea, the deep things of God;" again, "The things 
of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." 
His absolute knowledge of every movement of the 
Divine will, settles beyond dispute the question of His 
competency to bear witness to any act of the divine 
administration. Unless now the objector can show 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 105 

that man is not a spiritual being, and therefore is 
incapable of receiving spiritual impressions and com- 
munications, which we are very sure he will not 
affirm, the conclusion follows that the Spirit can im- 
part and man can receive the assurance of the for- 
giveness of sins. 

What is the nature of the Spirit's testimony? We 
know no better reply to this inquiry than that of Mr. 
Wesley. He rescued this doctrine from the obscurity 
and discredit into which it had fallen, and by its pro- 
clamation in " demonstration of the Spirit and of 
power," as much as by the preaching of any other 
truth of the word, became the instrument of that 
gracious awakening and revival of vital godliness of 
the results of which all the churches have partaken 
so largely. He says : 

"It is hard to find words in the language of men 
to explain the deep things of God. Indeed there are 
none that will adequately express what the Spirit of 
God works in His children. But perhaps one might 
say (desiring any who are taught of God to correct, 
soften, or strengthen the expression), by the testi- 
mony of the Spirit, I mean, an inward impression on 
the soul, whereby the Spirit of God immediately and 
directly witnesses to my spirit that I am a child of 
God; that Jesus hath loved me and given Himself for 
me; that all my sins are blotted out, and I, even I, am 
reconciled to God." 

" After twenty years farther consideration," he 



106 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

says, " I see no cause to retract any part of this. 
Neither do I conceive how any of these expressions 
may be altered, so as to make them more intelligible." 

This is all profoundly mysterious to the natural 
man. He " discerneth not the things of the Spirit 
of God; for they are foolishness to him; neither can 
he know them because they are spiritually discerned." 
But the man who has been justified from all his of- 
fences and regenerated by the Holy Ghost can enter 
unto the spirit and meaning of this definition. He 
knows what that " impression on the soul " is. He 
sees in this language, as in a mirror, the reflection of 
his own happy experience. He does not ask that 
a single expression be altered. The study of a life- 
time could not make it more intelligible to him. 

But may not impressions resulting from purely 
natural causes be confounded with the witness of the 
Spirit? May not the one be mistaken for the other, 
.and the soul thus involve itself in a ruinous self-de- 
ception? Yes; men have mistaken that feeling of 
quiet satisfaction that often arises from an earnest 
effort to serve and please God, or tha 4 - reaction and 
sense of repose that often follows the violent agita- 
tions of the moral feelings, or the crude fancies of a 
heated imagination, for this divine testimony. From 
such mistakes have come many of those religious 
vagaries, and much of that intolerance and mad 
fanaticism that have given birth to so many evils to 
our race. In many such cases the delusion vanishes as 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. ioy 

soon as the exciting cause ceases to operate. Where 
it is more permanent, its true character will appear in 
its fruits. 

But the converse of this admission is not true. 
A man may deceive himself; but the Spirit of truth 
will not deceive him. He may mistake something 
else for the witness of the Spirit; but he will not mis- 
take the witness of the Spirit for something else. 
It is inconceivable that, coming on this very errand, 
coming to make known to the soul the joyful fact 
of its deliverance and salvation, the Holy Ghost 
should do His work so imperfectly as to leave the soul 
in doubt whether it was He, or excited emotion, or 
the devil, that wrought in it that sweet impression 
which it experienced. He will accompany his testi- 
mony with such tokens as will leave no reasonable 
ground of confusion or doubt. He will not do less 
than teach the babe in Christ to say, Abba, Father, 
and assure him that he is born of God. 

This testimony of the Spirit is the concomitant of 
regeneration. It cannot precede regeneration; for it 
is only in regeneration that a man becomes a child 
of God. Nor can it be deferred to some indefinite 
time after regeneration. The comparison of spiritual 
with natural infancy fails at this point. The babe 
will not recognize its father as such for months; 
nor will it perceive at once any difference between 
its mother and any other woman who may give it 
needed nourishment and loving care. But those 



io8 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



who are born into the family of God, through the 
Spirit's gracious office, come at once to know the 
blessed fact. " The love of the Spirit " will not per- 
mit delay. " Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when 
ye believed?" was Paul's inquiry of John's disciples 
at Ephesus. The question indicates Paul's view of 
the matter. Evidently he believed that the faith that 
saves is accompanied by the grace of the Spirit that 
renews, comforts, and assures. Leave this grace out 
of conversion and what remains? Merely the sem- 
blance, the outward show, the shadow of conversion; 
a transaction that may reform the life, but leave the 
heart untouched, as full as ever of the roots of bitter- 
ness, and as destitute as ever of the joy of salvation. 
Expect the Spirit's testimony in the hour, the 
moment, of regeneration. 

But to fortify us against the danger of self-decep- 
tion and the extravagances of fanaticism on the one 
hand, and the distractions and oppressions of doubt 
on the other, there is a second witness. " The Spirit 
itself beareth witness with " — that is along with, 
conjointly with — " our spirit that we are the children 
of God." 

II. The testimony of our spirit. By our own 
spirit we understand that subtle power within us that 
not only thinks, feels, wills, but takes cognizance of 
its own operations and experiences. " What man 
knoweth the things of man, but the spirit of a man 
which is in him?" All others are of necessity ig- 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. iog 

norant of what takes place in the inner depths of our 
being; but we are not, and cannot be ignorant; we 
know that we think and know what we think; that we 
feel, and what we feel; and no change can take place 
in our moral feelings of which we are not immediately 
and irrisistibly conscious. When a man is justified 
and regenerated he knows that some change has been 
wrought in his soul. The nature and import of the 
change he may not understand; but he can no more 
doubt the fact than he can call in question any other 
fact of consciousness. The ever vigilant adversary 
suggests doubts and awakens fears. " That which 
you feel was the work of excited emotion. You cried 
Abba, Father, too quickly. Conversion is something 
very different from anything you have experienced." 
It is not to be wondered at that such suggestions find 
lodgment, and greatly trouble his sensitive soul. But 
he need not long be in doubt. The means are at hand 
whereby he can soon indentify his experience as a 
work of the Spirit if it be such. He has only to 
compare that experience with the word of God. 
Error, delusion, vain imaginations, are all unmasked 
when brought to this infallible touchstone. When 
he appeals to its tests of a saved state, his conscious- 
ness will enable him to decide whether there be agree- 
ment or disagreement between these tests and what 
he finds in his own heart; in other words, whether 
he be saved or still in his sins. 

When Paul says, " Being justified by faith we have 



no True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

peace with God through our Lord Jesus," he states 
a fact of universal Christian experience. The 
awakened sinner has no peace — no peace within, no 
peace with God. On the contrary he has a dis- 
tressing sense of his estrangement from God, of God's 
righteous displeasure, and, as a consequence, a fear- 
ful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation. 
But, strange to tell, in the moment of the soul's 
greatest anguish and deepest gloom by some myste- 
rious working there is a complete revolution within. 
Instead of alienation there is friendship; love has 
taken the place of fear, and hope the place of despair. 
The tumult of the soul has subsided into a blessed 
calm. There is quietness within, and he looks up 
into the face of God and says, " My Father." He 
cannot help being conscious of this change, and 
rightly infers from it that he is " justified by faith." 

Paul says again, " There is, therefore, now no con- 
demnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who 
walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. For the 
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me 
free from the law of sin and death." Every man 
while living in sin is in a state of condemnation. For 
' k he that believeth not is condemned already." 
Under the quickening power of the Holy Ghost this 
condemnation becomes a fact of consciousness. He 
feels that he is condemned by that law which is " holy, 
just, and good," and that if God were to enter into 
judgment with him, he must suffer " the vengeance 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. in 

of eternal fire." This sense of condemnation becomes 
a grievous burden to him. It bows his head; op- 
presses his soul; destroys his relish for all earthly 
joys and all worldly persuits. Turn whither he will, 
he finds no rest, no satisfaction. But out of the 
depths he cries unto God in Christ, and the burden is 
lifted from his soul. The voices of a broken law and 
an upbraiding conscience are hushed. He feels that 
he can take up the challenge, " Who is he that con- 
demneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is 
risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, 
who also maketh intercession for us." He cannot be 
ignorant of such a change in his moral feelings. 
Consciousness with unerring certainty assures him 
of it. What other conclusion can he draw than that 
he is " in Christ Jesus " and " free from the law of 
sin and death? " 

John says, " We know that we have passed from 
death unto life because we love the brethren." The 
love of the people of God because they are His 
people; because He loves them and they love Him; 
because they bear His image and are devoted to His 
service and glory, is here given as an infallible 
proof of a renewed state. This love embraces all 
God's people of every name and condition, and mani- 
fests itself, not in word only, but in a careful and 
cheerful regard to all the offices of a holy affection. 
It is simply impossible that any man should have this 
love in his heart and not know it. He may as reason- 



ii2 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

ably question the reality of his affection for his bosom 
friend, or for the dear ones of his home. Finding 
it in his heart, John authorizes him to conclude most 
assuredly that he has " passed from death unto life." 

We might continue this enumeration of scriptural 
marks of forgiveness and salvation indefinitely. But 
enough has been said to make plain the nature of the 
witness of our own spirit. It is our consciousness 
of the agreement of our experience with the word of 
God; the consciousness that we have in our heart 
the fruits of the Spirit. 

When now these two witnesses concur in their tes- 
timony; the Spirit of God testifying directly to the 
soul the fact of forgiveness, and our own spirit testi- 
fying that we have in our experience the marks of 
forgiveness as recorded in God's word; then have we 
the highest evidence of which any moral fact is sus- 
ceptible that our transgressions have been blotted 
out. 

This testimony as to its subject-matter has respect 
only to our present relation to God. It is not a tes- 
timony that our past service has been acceptable to 
Him, or that our life in the future will have His 
approval and end in our exaltation to heaven. It is 
restricted to the present hour — a testimony that we 
are now the children of God, whatever we may have 
been in the past or may be in the future. God is now 
our Father, reconciled unto us through Jesus Christ, 
thinking upon us, caring for us, and sympathizing 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. iij 



with us with all the tenderness and constancy of an 
infinitely loving heart. Precious truth ! How full 
of comfort, strength, and joy! The world may be 
cold- and dreary; poverty may oppress us; friends may 
all fail us and foes all unite against us; afflictions 
may grieve us, and " sorrow's rudest tempest blow 
each cord on earth to sever; " but God is our Father, 
and His smile of approval and love can convert our 
heaviest earthly woes into occasions of spiritual profit 
and rejoicing. 

Let us think, then, of this testimony as relating to 
and intended for the present. It is a present need, 
and will be a present joy, " unspeakable and full of 
glory." It will strengthen us for work and for suf- 
fering more than all things else combined. It will 
give to our life a power and an influence for good, 
for Christ and his salvation, that we can never other- 
wise attain and wield. This is the joy of salvation 
for which David prayed, and to which he looked as 
a preparation for effective teaching and working. 

I. A word to such as may be without this testi- 
mony. Your life may be consistent. The most cap- 
tious may detect nothing in your deportment that 
they can construe adversely to your Christian integ- 
rity. Your example may be of great value to others, 
restraining them from evil and stimulating them to 
right living. But after all, what is your religion 
worth in the way of satisfaction and rest to your 
own soul? What compensation does it afford for the 



ii4 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



sacrifices which it demands and the duties it enjoins? 
Its compensations are with you for the most part in 
the future. You are expecting that, at the last, 
" heaven will at large repay." But heaven does not 
belong only to the future. There is a sense in which 
it is a present possession. The consciousness of the 
presence of God with us and the love of God for us 
is the deepest joy of heaven; and this is the heritage 
of God's people in this world. In its possession they 
find every day a satisfaction of soul that more than 
repays them for the trials and conflicts of a life-time. 
This inheritance is for you. Take possession of it 
now. 

2. A word of cheer to such as are in the enjoy- 
ment of this testimony. How exalted your privilege, 
how high your distinction ! Children of God ! Chil- 
dren of " the King eternal, immortal, invisible," and 
" if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs 
with Christ." You are not yet in heaven, but heaven 
is within you. You feast on the clusters from the 
vale of Eschol in glad anticipation of the full vintage 
bye and bye. You catch enrapturing glimpes of the 
glory of your Lord and hasten to the hour when the 
veil shall be lifted and you will see his face. God 
speed you on your journey home. To him be glory 
for ever and ever. Amen. 



Strength in Joy. 



" The joy of the Lord is your strength."— Neh. viii, 10. 

There was a statute of the Mosaic code which re- 
quired that the whole Law should be read to the 
people once in every seven years. The time ap- 
pointed for this reading was during the celebration of 
the Feast of Tabernacles. This provision necessarily 
fell into neglect during the captivity. Its restoration 
is recorded in this chapter. 

The people having gathered themselves together, 
Ezra the scribe, standing on a platform which had 
been made for the purpose, read in their hearing the 
Book of the Law of Moses, continuing the reading 
from day to day until the whole was completed. The 
language of the people had undergone a very material 
change during the captivity. They now spoke, for 
the most part, the Chaldee dialect. Hence, while 
Ezra read from the old Hebrew text, twelve Levites 
served as interpreters — translating the Law as he 
read into the Chaldee, and accompanying the trans- 
lation with such explanations as were necessary to 
convey the sense to the people. 

The reading occasioned great sorrow and weep- 
ing. The people saw in how many things they had 
transgressed the law of God. They heard the curses 

[us] 



n6 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

denounced against transgressors. And, although they 
had done these things ignorantly, they were over- 
whelmed with grief, and with fears of punishment. 

It was a good sign that their hearts were so tender 
and so deeply affected by the word of God. But their 
mourning was unseasonable. The day was " holy unto 
the Lord." It was one of their great religious fes- 
tivals and ought to be celebrated with joy and praise. 
They were therefore dismissed with an exhortation 
to put away their sorrow, and eat and drink, and 
send portions to the needy, and keep the feast with 
the cheerfulness of spirit and deportment becoming 
such an occasion. 

And there is a reason for the exhortation yet more 
profound and comprehensive. They were engaged 
in an enterprise of vast moment to themselves and 
their posterity. The abuses of a century of neglect 
and of constantly increasing ignorance and wicked- 
ness were to be corrected. The worship of their 
fathers was to be restored in its purity. Their city 
was to be rebuilt and the desolations of the country 
reclaimed. They were comparatively few in number, 
very feeble, and greatly inpoverished, while their 
adversaries were numerous, powerful and vigilant. 
And their success could be assured only by the care- 
ful husbandry and concentration of all their moral 
as well as physical forces. Great grief bows the head, 
oppresses the heart, enfeebles the will, and disquali- 
fies one for vigorous, well-sustained effort and great 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. uy 

achievement. It is the cheerful, glad spirit that can 
dare, and do, and suffer great things. In recognition 
of this truth, Nehemiah gives as an additional reason 
why their grief should be restrained and put away 
that there is an element of power in religious joy with 
which, in view of their circumstances and the work 
before them, they could not afford to dispense. " The 
joy of the Lord is your strength." The best of all 
equipments for successful working and warring — 
better than the walls and towers which we have built, 
better than the soldiers we have marshalled and the 
munitions we have gathered, is the spirit of rejoicing 
in God. 

This thought, under the divine blessing, may be 
of practical value to us. How to live successfully, 
how to fill up the measure of our responsibility by 
wielding the largest influence and accomplishing the 
best results of which we are capable, is the most im- 
portant of all questions to us as moral beings. May 
we not find here — in " the joy of the Lord " — our 
greatest strength, our supreme qualification for our 
work? Is there not some point in the moral and 
spiritual world or some state of gracious attainment, 
where we may bring into the very fullest and most 
effective exercise the wondrous forces with which 
God has endowed us? And may it not be that in 
" the joy of the Lord " we may find this hiding-place 
of power? The question certainly merits attention. 
Let us examine it. 



Ji8 True Heroism and Oilier Sermons. 

" The joy of the Lord." The expression is un- 
usual, it does not often occur in the Scriptures. It 
may denote either the joy of the Lord in His people, 
or His people's joy in Him. Both ideas are scrip- 
tural. The first is a precious revelation; the second 
is a precious experience. He delights in and re- 
joices over His people; and His people rejoice in 
the Lord and joy in the God of their salvation. Their 
experience of this joy, however, rests on the revela- 
tion of His love made to the soul by the Holy Ghost. 
When with unquestioning trust in the Son of God 
a man grasps and appropriates the blessed truth of 
present forgiveness and salvation through Him, " the 
Spirit itself beareth witness with his spirit that he is 
a child of God." With such a testimony, how can 
he do otherwise than " magnify the Lord " and re- 
joice in Him? Any other sentiment than that of love, 
any other language than that of praise would be un- 
natural and strange. 

This joy in God as our Father, reconciled unto us 
through Jesus Christ, and imparting to us by the 
Holy Ghost the assurance of His love for us and 
His delight in us, is our strength. 

I. The antecedent conditions on which the soul 
comes to the experience of this joy are conditions 
essential to the exercise of its greatest moral power. 
They are conditions of strength as well as of joy. 
A\ 'hat are they? 

i. A complete and final renunciation of sin. We 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 119 

would not affirm that those who love and live in sin 
are necessarily strangers to all joy. We know, on the 
contrary, that those who neither fear God nor regard 
man, may and often do experience the liveliest emo- 
tions of joy in the pursuit and attainment of their 
ends. Their joys may be short lived and unsatisfac- 
tory; but they are to them real joys. But we do 
mean to affirm that Christian joy and sin are utterly 
incompatible. They can no more dwell together in 
the same heart than the most delicate flower of the 
tropics can bloom amid the eternal snows of the 
North, or the human body preserve its health and 
vigor with the deadly venom of the cobra poisoning 
every drop of its blood. This joy is possible only 
when the soul has broken away from " the abomi- 
nable thing that God hateth," and can survive only 
so long as the soul maintains its integrity and up- 
rightness before God. 

While sin is thus fatal to Christian joy, it is also 
an element of weakness. It saps the very foundations 
of human strength. No man is strong in whom and 
over whom sin reigns. He may in spite of it accom- 
plish grand results in life; but oftener than otherwise 
his slavery to petty vices of temper or speech, or 
grosser vices of debauchery and excess will demon- 
strate his weakness. Alexander could conquer the 
world, but was himself conquered and slain by a sen- 
sual appetite. And how often have we seen the man 
of the world after the most brilliant intellectual 



120 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



triumph too weak to refuse the intoxicating cup. 
Sin is essentially enfeebling, disorganizing, destruc- 
tive; and " when it is finished it bringeth forth death," 
which is the utter negation of all power, " the breath- 
less region of absolute and eternal faintness." 

The first and necessary condition of this joy, there- 
fore, is the putting away of that which is the chief 
source of the soul's weakness. It is the stripping of 
the athlete for the race, the loosing of the fetters of 
the giant, the slaying of the serpents that " crush, 
and enervate, and spoil the spirit," the clearing away 
of the rust and gum from the axles and pistons, and 
the dead ashes and cinders from the furnace of the 
engine, and fitting it for its highest speed and greatest 
power. And until these fetters are broken, these 
serpents slain, and " every weight and the sin that 
doth so easily beset " laid aside, the soul cannot hope 
for success in the work and struggles of the Christian 
life. 

2. A second antecedent condition of this joy is the 
reception of the revelation of God — especially the 
revelation of His grace in Christ — as infallible and ab- 
solute truth. The world is full of questionings at 
this point. The seriousness of such questionings, 
or the reality of such doubts, invariably marks the 
absence of Christian joy. The cry of the afflicted 
father: " Lord, I believe: help thou mine unbelief," 
always antedates the birth of iov; and it can live in 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 121 

the soul only so long as that soul reposes on the word 
of God as an eternal verity. 

That word touches us at every point of our being — 
at every step of our life. It settles the questions 
of our relations to God and our fellow men, of our 
responsibility and destiny; it discovers the only refuge 
for human guilt, the only remedy for human woe, 
the only satisfaction for human longings. In its light 
alone can we see light, and walk in conscious safety 
amid the perplexities of life, and through the shadows 
of death up to glory, honor, and immortality. Put 
it aside as unworthy of absolute trust, and the soul 
is abroad on a sea of storms and shoals without 
anchor, chart, or compass, or the twinkle of a single 
star to cheer its midnight. It has no joy, no hope. 

Doubt is little less friendly to strength than it is 

to joy. Illustrations of its paralyzing effects may be 

drawn from every position and vocation in life. Who 

are the world's successful men? Who its greatest 

warriors, statesmen, jurists; its immortal artists, 

poets, historians, philosophers; its merchant princes, 

its inventors, its illustrious benefactors? Surely not 

the doubting, halting, hesitating; but the men of 

firm conviction, and determined purpose. These 

have been crowned with success, while those who 

have lived amid the somber shades and unwholesome 

vapors of distrust have sunk down benumbed and 

sluggish and comparatively powerless. 

Distrust of the truth of God operates in the same 
8 



122 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

way. It generates vacillation and weakness with 
respect to the duties which that truth enjoins, and the 
ends it proposes, and culminates in complete moral 
impotency and death. 

Thus before we reach the joy itself, in its two an- 
tecedent conditions — the puting away of sin and the 
acceptance and appropriation of God's revelation of 
mercy and salvation — we find two prime conditions of 
strength. 

II. In the necessary ingredients of this joy — in 
those grand truths of experience that enter as com- 
ponent factors into this joy — there is strength. What 
are these? 

i. Reconciliation — the adjustment of all our moral 
and spiritual relations. These have all been disturbed 
by sin. There is disturbance in our souls — confusion, 
discord, darkness. There is disturbance between us 
and our right position, work and end in the economy 
of God. We have abandoned that position, refused 
that work, and are at war with the beneficent pur- 
poses of our being. There is disturbance between 
us and our Maker. We have broken away from his 
authority. We have put on the uniform and the arms 
of his adversary. We have provoked him to jealousy 
and exposed ourselves to his righteous displeasure. 
There is disturbance between us and all holy beings. 
We are at variance with the virtuous universe — a dis- 
cordant note in its music— a jar in the sublime har- 
mony of its movements. 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 123 

But with broken and contrite hearts we come to 
God through Christ, and the cause of this wide-spread 
disturbance is at once removed. Our sin is forgiven, 
our souls are washed in the blood of the Lamb, 
and by the power of the Holy Ghost we are re- 
newed after the image of Him that created us " in 
righteousness and true holiness." There is now 
peace within. Reason, conscience,- sensibility, will, 
each resumes its rightful place, each exercises its 
rightful functions. There is peace with God. Though 
He was angry with us, His anger is all turned away 
and He comforts us. He takes us into His arms and 
into His heart, and cherishes us even as a mother 
cherishes her first-born. There is peace, sympathy, 
fellowship with all holy beings in heaven and on earth. 
We have come to u an innumerable company of angels, 
and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to 
the general assembly and church of the first-born 
which are written in heaven." " One family we 
dwell in Him " — each rejoicing in the same blessed 
hope, and guided by the same hand to the same 
glorious destiny. 

Oh, there must be strength in such a union ! The 
material universe with its thousands of ponderous 
worlds is sweeping with resistless might through the 
fields of space. Every sun, moon, and star, impelled 
by the same wondrous force, is on the march, each 
helping to hold the other in its place and urging it 
on in its course. Any external force that could hurl 



124- True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

one sphere from its orbit must be mightier than the 
forces that bind together, uphold and move all, and 
therefore might arrest the movement of all and wreck 
the whole system. So in the moral and spiritual 
universe, to which the soul now reconciled and joy- 
ful in God belongs, there is movement, onward, up- 
ward glorious movement. " The principalities and 
powers in the heavenly places," " the saints to glory 
g-one," the saints on earth, are all stirred and moved 
by an impulse more potent than gravitation and all 
its kindred forces — the sweet, blessed impulse of the 
life and love of God. And any power that could over- 
come and destroy one soul reconciled and rightly ad- 
justed to its position and relations in the system of 
God, may overcome all other beings in that system 
because it overcomes the combined forces that up- 
hold and move all. If such a result be inconceivable, 
then in this adjustment of all our moral and spiritual 
relations there is strength; in reconciliation perpet- 
uated by unfaltering trust there is invincible might. 

2. Assurance; that blessed conviction wrought in 
the soul by the Holy Ghost, that all the grace of the 
convenant is ours — not that salvation is something 
which we may hope to obtain at some indefinite fu- 
ture time, but that we are already saved — that God 
is now our Father, Jesus our Saviour, the Holy Ghost 
our Comforter, heaven our inheritance. Such as- 
surance is not only the privilege of the soul, but is 
necessary to its joy in God. It is the chief ingredient 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 125 

of this joy — that without which it cannot exist. This 
is that joy of salvation for which David prayed so 
earnestly, and which every gracious soul esteems its 
most precious boon. 

And who can estimate the strength of such as- 
surance? In the concerns of this life assurance is one 
chief element of success. He who is assured of the 
righteousness of his cause, or the correctness of his 
views, or the practicability and utility of his plans, 
or his ability to accomplish his ends, will achieve 
results that otherwise would be wholly beyond his 
reach. In the higher region of the spiritual the 
power with which it nerves the soul for work and 
endurance is limited only by the frailties of the body. 
It enabled " the father of the faithful " to relinquish 
all the endearments of his ancestral home, and to go 
out he knew not whither to live as a pilgrim and stran- 
ger in a strange land, and to surrender the child of 
promise to the altar of sacrifice. Assured of his divine 
call and of the friendship of God, he stands out in the 
world's history as one of God's mightiest men. In 
the apostle of the Gentiles it was stronger than death 
and sweeter than life. With the prophecy of bonds 
and imprisonment in his heart, he could say : " None 
of these things move me, neither count I my life 
dear unto myself so that I might finish my course with 
joy and the ministry which I have received to testify 
the gospel of the grace of God; " and he rises to a still 
grander height, if possible, when he exclaims, " I 



126 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



can do all things through Jesus Christ which 
strengtheneth me." 

And in the ordinary walks of Christian life, no less 
than in the history of these illustrious servants of 
God, may we find demonstrations of the power of 
this grace. We have seen the mother bending with 
streaming eyes and almost breaking heart over the 
lifeless form of her only child, and covering the cold 
brow with the kisses of maternal love and grief. But 
hear her: " O God, I would not, do not murmur or 
repine. The cup is bitter, but in thy strength I 
drink it. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken 
away ; blessed be the name of the Lord." There in 
that humble home, in deepest poverty, is a dying 
servant of God. The love of Christ is in his heart; 
he rejoices in the assurance of hope; see! the light of 
heaven is already on his brow; with a thrilling shout 
of victory he ascends to his throne. O what are the 
possessions of this world, what its pleasures, what 
its garlands and trumpets of fame, when cast into 
the scale against the assurance that I am God's and 
He is mine ! With it, though troubled on every side, 
I will not be distressed; though perplexed, I will not 
be in despair; though sorrowful, yet will I be always 
rejoicing. 

With a scrip on my back and a staff in my hand, 
I'll march on in haste through an enemy's land, 
The road may be rough, but it cannot be long, 
I'll smooth it with hope, and I'll cheer it with song. 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 12J 



3. A lively hope. Joy is prospective. It is not simply 
a present fruition; but as its inspiration comes from 
within the vail, so it looks forward to the future and 
upward to the heavenly home for its final consum- 
mation. This prospective element is hope, and with- 
out it Christian joy has no existence. And is there 
no power in such a hope? Was not Abraham sustained 
and cheered in his pilgrimage by the hope of " a 
better country that is an heavenly " — " a city which 
hath foundations whose maker and builder is God? " 
Did not Moses, when he bade adieu to the court of 
Egypt and " chose rather to suffer afflictions with 
the people of God," have " respect unto the recom- 
pense of the reward? " And it is written of a greater 
than either of these that for the joy that was set 
before him he endured the cross, despising the shame. 
And there are no crosses we cannot bear, no buf- 
fetings we cannot endure, no perils we cannot brave 
.in the strength of the hope of heaven. Why need 
we be discouraged because of the way? What 
though the waters of Marah be bitter and the valley 
of Baca be dry? What though every flower of earthly 
love whither and perish, and friends all fail and foes 
all unite? In a little while the wilderness with its 
privations, its toils and its tears will be passed, the 
river will be crossed and we will be at home. 
" Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ which, according to His abundant mercy, 
hath begotten us again, by the resurrection of Jesus 



128 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



Christ from the dead, unto a lively hope to an in- 
heritance which is incorruptible, undefiled, and that 
fadeth not away." 

And now out of these three, reconciliation, as- 
surance, hope — comes as a grand resultant " the joy 
of the Lord." In each of these there is strength; in 
all combined there is all we can need for a successful 
Christian life. There is strength for whatever work 
God has for us to do, strength for defence against 
whatever foes may assail us, and for the endurance 
of whatever ills may overtake us — strength to toil 
and suffer, and strength to die in holy triumph, and 
on wings of gladness swifter than the light " soar 
away to sing God's praise in endless day." 

Every one needs this strength for the work of 
life. The cultivation and enrichment of our intellec- 
tual powers, of the aesthetic elements of our nature, 
and of all the tender sweet affections of the heart, 
cannot supersede the necessity of the inspiration and 
power that come from the life which is hid with 
Christ in God. Take the living Christ into your trust- 
ing, loving heart. Live in Him; live on Him; live for 
Him, 

" And your life will be all sunshine 
In the sweetness of your Lord." 




CENTENARY M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH, RICHMOND, VA. 



The Doctrine of the Seed. 



" And He said, ' So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed 
into the ground; and should sleep, and should rise night and day, and the seed 
should spring and grow up, He knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth 
fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. 
But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because 
the harvest is come.' " — Mark iv, 26-29. 

The gospel of Christ is represented in this parable 
under the figure of seed; and its method or order of 
procedure in the salvation of men under the figure 
of the process of nature in the germination of the 
seed, and the development of the future plant and 
its fruit. 

I. There is in the seed an inherent vital principle 
or force. 

It is this mysterious life-power that organizes and 
holds in combination the elements that make up the 
seed, and that prevents its dissolution and decom- 
position. 

What this principle is as to its essence we do not 
know. We may magnify the seed to the highest pos- 
sible degree; we may dissect it with the most delicate 
instruments that science can invent; but we will find 
ourselves wholly unable to detect that wherein its 
life consists. It has eluded every effort to detect it 
and to subject it to analysis and definition. But the 

[129] 



i jo True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

fact that there is such a power in the seed, out of 
which the whole future life of the plant is evolved, 
no man will question for a moment. 

In the gospel of Christ is a secret invisible energy — 
a principle of life — spiritual and eternal life. It is 
called " the incorruptible seed of the word of God 
which liveth and abideth forever." It is not a dead 
letter. As a history of a divine-human person and 
his work, as a system of doctrine, and as a code of 
morals it is instinct with life. It is both vital and 
vitalizing. Wrapped up in it is the life of the church, 
and of every individual believer; and that life is 
vigorous and healthful, not according to outward and 
temporal conditions, but in proportion to the nutri- 
ment which it receives from the word. 

It has sometimes happened that seeds have been 
preserved through a long period of time; but when 
planted they have germinated and reproduced them- 
selves as readily and as perfectly as if they were the 
product of the last harvest. So the lapse of ages has 
not impaired in the least the vital force of the gospel. 
It is as quick and as powerful to-day as when first 
proclaimed by the newly inspired apostles on the 
streets of Jerusalem. The trees of the Lord are as 
green and flourishing, their blossoms are as beautiful 
and fragrant, and their fruits as abundant and perfect 
now, as were those that grew under the personal 
care and culture of the Master himself. 

The seed reproduces itself. It brings forth fruit 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. iji 



after its own and not after another kind. There is no 
such thing in the kingdom of nature as the transmu- 
tation of species. Each, while it may be improved, 
or may deteriorate, preserves its own essential char- 
acteristics to the end of its existence. And whatever 
the varieties of the soil in which the seed may be 
planted, or whatever the varieties of climate and 
atmospheric influences, the product, though per- 
haps in some respects modified, is essentially the 
same. 

The gospel of Christ, itself unchangeable, pro- 
duces the same results in all ages, among all men. 
There are endless varieties of character and condition 
among men — differences of capacity and acquire- 
ment, of modes of thought and habits of life, of dis- 
position and taste. The influences that operate on 
them are as varied as their circumstances and asso- 
ciations. Yet everywhere the result is the same. 
While the gospel does not destroy the distinctive 
peculiarities of men, or exact from every one pre- 
cisely the same exhibition of Christian character and 
life, its fruitage is everywhere identical. It is every- 
where, " love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, 
goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance." And 
in the production of these fruits it reproduces itself. 
Every Christian man's life is an evangel, a procla- 
mation and illustration of the truth and power of the 
gospel, and has in it a reproductive energy; so that 
it were possible for the gospel to perpetuate itself, 



132 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



work out its results, and achieve its triumphs in the 
world independently of these written records. 

While the life-power in the seed is to us inscru- 
table, we can be at no loss in determining the source 
and secret of the vital force of the gospel. It presents 
those views of the divine character that naturally 
tend to re-awaken the soul's confidence and love. 
It is the medium through which a divine influence 
is imparted to quicken the soul, to enlighten the un- 
derstanding, awaken the conscience, renew the will 
and the affections, to reconcile us to God and bring 
us into a blessed fellowship with Him. To receive 
the gospel is to receive Christ : in its saving applica- 
tion it is " Christ in you the hope of glory " — Christ, 
not personally and locally, but in the fulness and 
richness of the gifts and graces of his Spirit which 
dwelleth in you. 

II. The life of the seed is developed according to 
certain conditions or laws. 

1. The law of fitness or adaptation. It will not 
germinate in a bank of snow, or of arid sand. It 
must be placed in a soil properly prepared and en- 
riched, and withal naturally adapted to its growth. 
It must have the air, the sunshine and showers, in 
order to the evolution of its life-principle. So the 
word of God must be received and kept in a good and 
honest heart. The heart is its soil, and the only soil 
in which it will germinate and bring forth its fruit. 
" That on good ground are they, which in an honest 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. ijj 

and good heart, having* heard the word, keep it, and 
bring forth fruit with patience." 

2. The law of progress. " First the blade, then 
the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." There 
is a gradual unfolding of the spiritual life from its 
first pulsations in conviction to maturity in entire 
sanctification. There is a moment when the tender 
shoot first bursts through the soil into the sunlight; 
a moment when the blossom opens and sheds its 
pollen; a moment when the corn is ripe. So there 
is an instant of time when the soul first feels the 
quickening power of the Holy Ghost; an instant 
when it emerges from the darkness and sorrow of 
conscious guilt and penitence into the light and joy 
of conscious pardon and peace with God; an instant 
when with absoluteness of consecration and trust it 
comes into the experience of " the fulness of the bless- 
ing of the gospel of peace." But as in the process 
of nature, so in the work of grace, however it may 
appear to outward observation, there are no sudden 
abrupt leaps from a lower to a higher state. The 
blade cannot at once become full corn; the little 
leaven cannot instantly leave the whole lump; the 
babe in Christ cannot at once become the full-grown 
strong man. There is a gradual advancement from 
one state to another — the soul as certainly passing 
through every state in its progress as the infant must 
pass through childhood and youth to reach manhood. 

While the work of God in the soul is progressive, 



IJ4 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

at every stage of its progress it is perfect. Is a man 
regenerated? In that moment he is a perfect babe in 
Christ — but nothing more than a babe, nor do we 
know of any scriptural doctrine, precept or promise, 
that justifies us in expecting him to be anything 
more at that time. Is that work sufficient for his 
salvation? If he were to die, the next moment after 
regeneration would he go to heaven? Beyond all 
question. He is as truly a child of God as he ever 
will be, and has as sure a title to the inheritance as 
he ever can have. There may be children of widely 
different ages, and different degrees of intelligence 
and usefulness in the household; but there is no dif- 
ference in their relationship to the parents, nor in 
their claims to a share in the parental estate. The 
heavenly Father will give a crown and a kingdom to 
the feeblest of His children no less certainly than 
to the strongest. 

But must not some additional work be accom- 
plished in the soul? Is it made meet for the inheri- 
tance of the saints in light by regeneration only? 
So we have believed from the time we first gave the 
subject serious consideration; so we will continue to 
believe until we find something to the contrary in 
God's word. We are not ignorant of human theories 
on the subject. We know that there is a very com- 
mon notion that in the article of death there is an 
additional unconditional work of the Spirit complet- 
ing the soul's transformation into the image of God. 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. ij^ 

But if God can work such a change unconditionally 
in one, He can do the same in all; and if in any re- 
spect, then in every respect and to any extent. The 
logical outcome of such a theory is the abolition of 
hell and universal final restoration. It is enough 
that we find no intimation of any such work of the 
Spirit in the hour of death anywhere in the sacred 
Scriptures — no intimation that the grace imparted 
in regeneration is insufficient for salvation. We hope 
never to find any such intimation. The discovery 
would be a sad blow to our faith in the gospel. 

But the man does not die as soon as regenerated — 
what then? The blade does not perish as soon as 
it reaches the sunlight — what then? Do we look 
for the full corn the next day, or the next? No; we 
are to protect and nourish the plant, let it have the 
light and warmth of the sun, the dews and showers, 
and careful culture, and in due season the ripe corn 
will be our reward. So the new-born child of God 
must have the nursing care of the church, the means 
of grace, and the sweet influences of the Spirit, that 
he may grow thereby into a mature Christian man- 
hood. Under such fostering care and in the use of 
these means, he will k ' come unto a perfect man, 
unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of 
Christ," as certainly as the plant under favoring con- 
ditions will be developed into a healthful maturity. 

But what of sanctification? Is it not a grace 
distinct from regeneration — " a second blessing " — 



ij6 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

" or higher life " — to be attained and enjoyed at some 
point between the two states denoted by the blade 
and the full corn? We have not so read the Scrip- 
tures. We do not doubt that there is many a precious 
baptism of the Spirit between these stages of the 
spiritual life just as there is many a refreshing shower 
and many a day of sunshine between the bursting 
forth of the blade and the ripening of the corn. But 
our view of the matter is that the child of God enjoys 
the blessing of sanctification from the moment of his 
regeneration on through life until he is glorified in 
heaven; not the blessing in all its fulness; and yet 
the blessing in its fulness as measured by his ability 
to receive and enjoy it. The state of the soul when 
born anew is one of consecration to Christ, of trust 
in Him, and love for Him,' proportioned to the clear- 
ness of its view of its own need and of His sufficiency. 
Its conception of its need is constantly enlarged and 
intensified by the discipline of life and its increasing 
knowledge of itself, while the study of the word and 
the experience of the heart are ever giving it deeper 
and more comprehensive views of the unsearchable 
riches of Christ. With its growth in knowledge of 
itself and of Christ, and a corresponding appropria- 
tion by faith of His atoning merit, there is growth 
in purity, love, joy, peace, and all the graces and 
fruits of the Spirit. Through this entire process the 
soul is in a state of salvation, sanctification, holiness, 
according to the degree of its light arid the measure 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 137 

of its present capacity. The life, therefore, from its 
beginning to its culmination in glory is one — and 
one forever — a new and " higher life " as compared 
with the old life of sin, it is true, but not in the sense 
that it is essentially different from itself at different 
stages of its progress. 

This view may help to explain a not uncommon 
fact in the history of individual Christian life. We 
know persons who, years ago, professed entire sancti- 
fication, but who do not profess it now. Why not? 
Have they fallen away? No; they are as devoted, 
earnest, faithful now as they were then. They will 
perhaps say that they have lost that blessing. We 
think differently. Instead of losing it they have 
outgrown it as then enjoyed. They are on a higher 
plane of knowledge and have broader and more com- 
prehensive views. What filled the soul then cannot 
fill it now. The joy of childhood and youth is wholly 
insufficient for their manhood. If, instead of mourn- 
ing over it as lost, they will trustingly appropriate 
Christ's saving and sanctifying merit up to the 
measure of their present knowledge, the vessel, 
however capacious, will be filled again, and to over- 
flowing. 

Is this Methodist doctrine? We believe it to be 
Bible doctrine. We believe, too, that we have not 
advanced an idea that is not involved in the often 
quoted saying of Mr. Wesley that " regeneration is 
sanctification begun." All the elements of a com- 
9 



ij8 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

pleted sanctification are in regeneration; and while 
a man may profess entire sanctification to-day and 
claim that it has all been done for him and in him 
by the Holy Spirit in an instant, Mr. Wesley says: 
" You are mistaken; it was begun in you ten, twenty, 
forty years ago, when you were regenerated." What- 
ever else Methodism may teach, it emphasizes the 
doctrine of growth in spiritual life. It affixes no 
limit to this growth. It sets no time at which a man 
may say, " I have ' already attained ' and am ' already 
perfect,' " but exhorts every man to be ever " follow- 
ing after, if that he may apprehend that for which 
also he is apprehended of Christ Jesus." 

1. Many a plant springing from a good seed never 
reaches maturity. It is destroyed by the worm, 
nipped by the frost, or choked by the weeds. So 
little sins, great sins, worldliness, lust, pride, ambi- 
tion, often dwarf and disfigure the spiritual life, arrest 
its progress, and ultimately destroy it. " He that 
hath ears to hear, let him hear." 

2. Unlike the seeds of nature, the seed of the word 
of God is incorruptible. It " liveth and abideth for- 
ever." In it is the power of an endless life. Its 
fruits are perennial. The saints in glory are forever 
moving onward and upward to a higher and grander 
perfection. 



Chosen to be a Builder.* 



"Take heed now; for the Lord hath chosen thee to build a house for the 
sanctuary: be strong and do it." — I Chron. xxviii, 10. 

One of the cherished projects of David, in the 
closing years of his life, was the building of a house 
for God in Jerusalem. This was a measure of both 
piety and policy; of piety, inasmuch as it would give 
tangible and enduring expression to his faith in God 
and his devotion to Him; and of policy, inasmuch 
as it would naturally endear the city to the people, 
attract them to it, increase its commerce, and thus 
enrich and strengthen his capital. 

But David had been a man of war from his youth 
His hands had been stained with the blood of his 
fellow men. On this account he was adjudged an un- 
suitable instrument for the proposed service. But 
he was permitted to contribute largely to its success 
by awakening an interest in it among his people, 
by gathering immense stores of necessary material, 
and by devoting to it a liberal share of his private 
fortune. He was also assured that his house should 
have the honor of this great enterprise — that Solo- 
mon, his son, should succeed him on the throne, and 

* Delivered at the Commencement of Trinity College, Durham, N. C, June, 
1894. 

[139] 



i^.o True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

that he would be specially endowed for the work, 
and would prosecute it to a successful issue. 

David was now well stricken in years and was 
conscious that the time of his departure was at hand. 
That there might be no dissensions after his death 
with respect to the succession, he directed that Solo- 
mon should be anointed and proclaimed king; and 
for a short time father and son reigned jointly. As 
the end drew nigh he called together the elders and 
dignitaries of the realm, and after a tender and 
faithful address to them, gave his final charge to 
Solomon in these words: tk And thou, Solomon, my 
son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve 
Him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind; 
for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth 
all the imaginations of the thoughts; if thou seek Him, 
He will be found of thee; but if thou forsake Him, 
He will cast thee off forever. Take heed now; for 
the Lord hath chosen thee to build a house for the 
sanctuary; be strong and do it." 

Happy had it been for Solomon had he never for- 
gotten this paternal counsel. But alas ! in his later 
years he turned aside after strange gods. History 
does not follow him into the darkness, nor record 
his return to the light. The charity that " hopeth 
all things " cannot lift the shadow of sad uncertainty 
that rests upon his end. 

The statement of the text, " The Lord hath chosen 
thee to build a house for the sanctuary," is an inter- 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 141 

esting and suggestive one. God had a place to be 
filled, and a work to be done, and he raised up Solo- 
mon for the special purpose of filling that place and 
doing that work. This particular statement suggests 
this general truth : In His great system God has a 
place and a specific work for each individual; and the 
individual is as truly chosen of God to fill that place 
and do that work as Solomon was to wear the crown 
of David and build the Temple on Mount Zion. 

We cannot suppose that God has created anything 
without intelligent design. He does nothing capri- 
ciously or at random. He has not created simply be- 
cause He can create, or simply for the pleasure of 
creating. But He had an infinite variety of places to 
be filled, and of subordinate ends to be accomplished 
in order to the completeness and glory of His work 
and the achievement of the final end of His adminis- 
tration; and every movement of His creative energy 
has looked to the filling of those places and the work- 
ing out of those subordinate ends. Its productions 
are endlessly varied; but there is no surplusage — noth- 
ing for which God has no use. The trees of the forest 
and the flowers of the field, reptiles and fishes, insects, 
birds and beasts, sun, moon and stars, angels and 
men, each and all were ordained to meet specific ends 
and perform specific functions in the divine economy. 
What those specific functions are in many cases we 
are wholly unable to decide; but we can no more 
deny the fact than we can question the divine wisdom. 



1^2 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

And if it be a fact, then it follows that no creature 
can fill the place and do the work of any other 
creature. There may be, doubtless are, certain com- 
pensatory arrangements whereby defects and failures 
may be remedied. But such arrangements do not 
affect the general truth that every creature must 
stand in its own lot. Every atom must fill its own 
place, every sun do its own shining, every flower its 
own blooming, every bird sing its own song: other- 
wise the divine order in creation is to that extent 
disturbed. 

It is therefore no part of God's plan that any two 
men should occupy the same place at the same time 
and undertake the absurdity of doing simultaneously 
precisely the same thing. Their places and work may 
be, in many respects, similar, but never identical. 
" To every man his work," is the divine order — his 
own work, so peculiarly his own that no being in the 
universe can do it for him. It is the violation of this 
order, the failure of angels and men to stand in their 
allotted places and do their appointed work, that has 
occasioned all the evils that afflict the universe. It 
was to restore and maintain this order that God in- 
troduced the expedient of the cross. With its light 
to guide us we may find our appropriate place, and 
with its grace to help us we may do all His will con- 
cerning us. 

The special work of Solomon was the building of 
a house for God. That which he was appointed to do 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 14.3 



in a literal and material sense, every man is called to 
do in a moral and spiritual sense. Men have dif- 
ferent orders of talent and different degrees of culti- 
vation; they pursue different callings and occupy 
different stations in life. But whatever differences 
there may be in these and other respects, they all 
agree in this, that every one is a builder; not always 
consciously, yet constantly and of necessity a builder. 
Every day, every hour, whether he will or not, he is 
building — laying the foundations, rearing the walls, 
setting up the columns, and pushing to completion 
a structure that shall endure forever. That structure 
is his own character, that which he is in himself, the 
reality of his being as distinguished from all that is 
merely outward and formal. Intellect, natural and 
moral sensibility, and will are the grand forces at 
work on this structure. In the quality of their work, 
in the moral tone of the thinking, feeling, choosing, 
and by consequence of action, we reach the central 
fact of character as virtuous or vicious, pure or 
impure. As we cannot determine the quality of the 
flower from its beauty, nor of the fruit from the deli- 
cate blush on its cheek, so the truth with respect 
to character cannot be determined by appearances, 
but only by ascertaining the moral quality of the mo- 
tives and intents of the heart — that subtle force that 
lies back of our powers and gives them vitality and 
sustains their activity, and out of which, says Inspi- 
ration, " are the issues of life." " As a man thinketh 



144- True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

in his heart so is he." Impure thinking, and impure 
feeling, generating as they must impure motives to 
action, can produce only an impure character. We 
may as reasonably expect to build a beautiful and 
substantial house of rotted timbers as to build up a 
good character with a bad heart. 

As Solomon's mission was to build a house for 
God, so it is our high calling to build ourselves up 
into " an habitation of God through the Spirit." In 
the human body there are vital forces which, when in 
healthful exercise, appropriate the food, and drink, 
and air, and gathering out of these the elements 
suited to its nutrition, by a wonderfully delicate, yet 
powerful machinery, convey them to all parts of the 
organism, replenishing its waste, strengthening its 
weak points, and imperceptibly, yet constantly adding 
to its stature until the measure of completed man- 
hood is attained. So in the human soul there are 
forces which are ever reaching out, seeking, grasping, 
appropriating such elements as the moral world may 
supply. Unhappily in this matter of nutrition and 
growth the body is wiser than the soul. It will ordi- 
narily reject what is baneful; while the soul will seize 
upon poisonous error and feed with greediness on 
the most noxious forms of corruption. The re- 
sult is growth, the formation of a character, but 
a character blotched and deformed by the poisons 
on which it has fed. Our work is to guide these 
forces of the soul in their search for food, and 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 14.5 



supply only that which is pure and healthful that we 
may grow into " an holy temple in the Lord." 

It is of first importance that we realize that this 
is our personal work — that it is in our hands, under 
our control, and that we alone are responsible for 
the issue. Underlying all good character and right 
living, and essential to it, is the distinct, ever-present, 
controlling sense of personal moral obligation. To 
the consistent fatalist good character is impossible. 
According to his creed, there is no virtue, no vice; 
all is of inexorable and eternal necessity. Equally 
impossible is it for the man whose views of his re- 
sponsibility are indistinct and fitful to have a strong 
and well developed moral character. Our virtue can 
be only in proportion to our knowledge of duty and 
our voluntary performance of it. Though we may 
do that which is right, unless we know it to be right 
and do it because it is right, our act is not only with- 
out virtue, but may be criminal. Nor is it possible 
for the man who understands his duty to do it vir- 
tuously if his conscience be so seared and his heart 
so sensual and gross that he does not always feel the 
force of obligation. There must be then right views 
of truth and duty and right feeling towards them; 
then follows naturally right action. If all or either 
of these elements be wanting, our sense of personal 
responsibility is necessarily defective and to that ex- 
tent our hands are weakened, our work undone and 
our character distorted. 



i/f.6 True Heroism and Other Sermons, 

An all important part of the work of Christian 
parents and educators is to awaken and develop in 
the young this sense of individual responsibility. 
Much is to be done in the way of supplying mental 
stimulus and proper moral aliment, in correcting the 
perversions of sensibility, remedying the defects of 
a feeble will, and giving a right direction to the im- 
pulses and aspirations of the soul. But all this will 
avail but little towards the formation of a strong 
and beautiful character unless the moral sense be 
quickened into vigorous life, and the child or youth 
be deeply imbued with the conviction that, whatever 
others may do for him, he is the builder of his own 
character, and thus the arbiter of his own destiny. 

Happily for us in a matter of such moment we 
are not left to work at random, or to follow the sug- 
gestions of our own hearts, the unsteady light of 
human philosophy, or the imperfect examples of 
human history. As God gave by the Spirit the plan 
and specifications of His house in Jerusalem, so He has 
given us a model and written out the specifications 
after which we are to build. That model is His incar- 
nate Son and those specifications are the precepts of 
His holy word. It is true that we are exhorted to 
be " followers of those who through faith and 
patience have inherited the promises," and many ex- 
amples of men of lofty integrity, heroic endeavor, and 
glorious achievement are presented as worthy of 
all imitation. But He places His Son before us as the 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 14.J 

only true and complete measure of a man. In him 
the divine ideal of human perfection is realized. He 
is our standard; and to reach this standard is the 
proper goal of our efforts and the end of our aspira- 
tions. Our glory in this life to be found in renewal 
after his image, and our highest glory in the life 
to come will be the perfection of his image in us. " It 
doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know 
that when he shall appear we shall be like him; for 
we shall see him as he is." 

Here then is our work. However humble or how- 
ever exalted our station; however limited or however 
munificent our endowments and opportunities; or 
whatever our chosen pursuit; our supreme calling is 
to fashion our character and life after the model of 
the Man of Nazareth. As a child, a youth, a young 
man; as a son, a friend, a citizen; as a philanthropist 
and a servant of God; in self-denial and self-sacrifice; 
in humility, patience and meekness; in the forgive- 
ness of injuries; in steadfast devotion to duty; in 
abundance of labors for others' good; in every grace 
that can adorn human character and enrich and glo- 
rify human life; he is our example. To drink into 
his Spirit, to make his virtues our own; in our 
measure to reproduce his fruits, and to present to 
the world not a blurred and distorted picture, but a 
beautifully exact, living, moving, speaking image of 
Jesus is our high privilege and calling. 

There is a sad contrast between him and ourselves 



1 4-8 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

now. His character stands before us like a majestic 
and glorious temple. Its proportions are fair and 
its structure is goodly. Its columns are strength 
and beauty and its ornaments symmetry and grace. 
Its apartments are spacious and lofty, and adorned 
with the delicate tracery of " whatsoever things are 
pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things 
are of good report." Its innermost shrine is illu- 
mined with shekinal glory. No shadow obscures its 
splendor; no defect, no stain mars its magnificence. 
Our nature, on the contrary, is a temple in ruins. 
Its walls are crumbling and covered with corruption's 
rankest growths. Its columns are broken and its 
ornaments disfigured and scattered in the dust; while 
over its wreck broods the darkness of spiritual night 
and from underneath its rubbish issue streams of 
putrefaction and death. 

But humiliating as is the contrast, our task is not 
a hopeless one. In these ruins are the materials of 
a structure whose glory may far exceed that of our 
former house. By the grace of the gospel we may 
clear away the rubbish, and laying anew our founda- 
tion, not in Adamic righteousness but on the Rock 
of Ages, build ourselves up into a spiritual house, 
the temple of the Holy Ghost. In the temple on 
Mount Zion the divine glory dwelt only in the Holy 
of Holies and was seen only by the high-priest. 
When our work under Christ is done, our entire 
being shall be radiant with the divine presence; soul, 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 14.9 

body, spirit shall be transformed and glorified by the 
Spirit of God dwelling in us, and men shall see Christ 
in our works, hear him in our words and recognize 
his presence and power in every feature of our char- 
acter and every movement of our life. We shall be 
not only witnesses, but living manifestations to all 
men, of his matchless beauty and glory. 

But God has not set this standard before us and 
given us this work to do, and then left us to our own 
resources. He has provided the means and gives all 
needed help for its successful prosecution. We have 
His word as a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto 
our path. We have His Spirit to help our infirmities, 
to guide us into all truth and by His mighty 
power enable us " to put off the old man, which 
is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and 
put on the new man, which after God is created 
in righteousness and true holiness." We have pre- 
cious promises to cheer us, and " the recompence of 
the reward " to inspire our hopes. The unsearchable 
riches of His grace are at the command of our faith. 
He has put into our hand the key to unlock the door 
and give us access to all His treasures. His provi- 
dences work together for our good. The angelic 
powers encamp about us, not as guardians only, but 
as ministers to our needs. We have the friendship 
and fellowship of Jesus, itself a wonderfully trans- 
forming agency. All things are ours. If we will, 
therefore, we may do fully and faithfully our whole 



ijo True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



work, round out our character and life, and stand 
before men and angels complete in Christ. 

But although the forces at work with us and for 
us are so numerous and so mighty, we have need 
to listen to the inspired caution, " Take heed now; " 
a caution preeminently applicable to you, young 
gentlemen, who are about to enter on your life work. 
Take heed that you accept God's ideal of manhood, 
that you adopt the model which infinite wisdom and 
love has conceived and executed and presents for 
our imitation. 

Take heed that you follow at every step the written 
specifications', that you do not undertake to order 
your life in your own way. There is no right 
way and no safe way save that which God has 
prescribed. He has prescribed it because it is 
right; because it is safe; because therein is to 
be found our highest good and greatest glory. 
Success in any other way will be found in the end to 
be disastrous failure. " Take heed to thyself " — to 
the thoughts that you cherish, to the secret impulses 
of your soul, to the motives that inspire you and the 
ends at which you aim. Cast all these in the crucible 
of God's word and reject whatever does not come 
forth as pure gold. 

Of course we will encounter external opposition in 
our work. Nehemiah, when rebuilding the ruined 
city of God, though working with royal sanction, 
must meet the wiles and threats and endure the in- 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 151 



suits of Sanballat. But to his treacherous proposal 
for a conference, the servant of God replied : " I am 
doing a great work — why should the work cease, 
while I come down to you? " To his threats his 
answer was a command to his people to gird on their 
swords and continue their work, ready to fight and 
if need be to die, but resolved at every hazard to re- 
build the walls of the city. The Sanballats are not 
all dead. There are opposers and despisers of good- 
ness on every hand — men and women who, under 
the inspiration of the prince of darkness, are ready 
with their seductive arts, with flattering promises or 
with frowns to divert us from our purpose and defeat 
our aim. Unless we take constant heed, they will 
get an advantage over us. We cannot, with safety, 
have any parleying or enter into any negotiations 
with them. We can make no compromise with the 
world, the flesh, or the devil. We are doing a grander 
work than that of Solomon or Nehemiah. It de- 
mands all our time, all our powers and all our care. 
Its exactions are all comprehensive and imperative. 
The time allotted us is fixed and cannot be extended. 
Then, whatever the world may say, or whatever 
" philosophy and vain deceit " may suggest, or how- 
ever much fallen nature may rebel or plead for indul- 
gence, with a holy independence, and fixedness of 
purpose, and steadiness of faith, we must stand in 
our place and press our work to a triumphant issue. 
Some years ago I saw in a newspaper a picture 



i $2 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

that fixed itself in my memory. It was only a wood- 
cut and was rude in execution, but it conveyed a 
lesson. The scene was laid on a rock-bound stormy 
coast. On a high bluff a bright fire was blazing. 
Behind a boulder here was concealed a grim-visaged, 
weather-beaten man, and there another, and yonder 
a third. Peering over the rocks, they are all looking 
intently at the vessel dimly outlined in the darkness 
and struggling with the waves. She has been de- 
coyed from her course by this false light and is rapidly 
nearing the fatal reef. A moment more and with 
a crash louder than the roar of the tempest, she is 
dashed upon the rocks an utter wreck. And now 
these men with fiendish satisfaction rush from their 
hiding places, man their boat and secure the prize. 
Take heed and beware of the false lights that shine 
all along the pathway of life, and the wreckers who, 
under the guise of good intentions, it may be, would 
lure you from the right way and then exult in your 
shame. 

I have known a mud-scow to sink a splendid 
steamer in Norfolk harbor. There are human mud- 
scows on whom you may look with pity or disdain 
but who in the days to come may wreck your life. 
Take heed. 

Many a builder, by a false step, has been dashed 
to death. Beware of the first false step. Once on 
the down grade you will go with constantly accel- 
erated speed and ere long, though you may shut off 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 153 

the steam, sound the alarm and put down the brakes 
you rush helpless and hopeless upon horrid disaster. 
Take heed. 

We will often meet with discouragement. It often 
requires more strength to endure than to do. It 
is a greater trial to the soldier to stand still under 
fire than it is to rush to the deadly charge. We may 
look for the frequent disappointment of our expecta- 
tions and the apparent failure of our plans. We feel 
that we are accomplishing nothing, gaining no 
strength, making no progress, adding nothing to- 
wards the completion and beauty of our house. All 
this depresses and discourages our souls. But oft- 
times the things that depress us most are fitting us 
for higher achievement, and the sighings of to-day 
prove only the prelude to the joyful songs of to- 
morrow. The blacksmith has no consciousness of 
the increasing strength of his arm as he swings the 
hammer. He closes the day with hand and arm sore, 
and body weary with toil; but the morrow finds him 
all the stronger for the labors that await him. We 
may not see such advancement as we desire; but let 
us not therefore conclude that we are doing nothing. 
Honest, earnest, loving, Christian endeavor is never 
in vain. Nothing done for God is labor lost. If it ac- 
complish not its objective end, it reacts on our 
character for good. A kindly word or act spoken 
or done in faith and love may be apparently lost; 
but it silently and surely contributes to the adorn- 
10 



iJ4 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

ment of our spiritual house. Let us not then for a 
moment yield to depression. We have no time to 
waste in vain regrets about the past or present, or 
in idle dreaming about what we will do in the future, 
or in criticism of the work of others. The Lord hath 
chosen each one of us to build a house for the sanc- 
tuary. Let us be strong, and do it. Do it now; do 
it perseveringly; do it through life; and then we shall 
behold " with open face the glory of the Lord, and be 
changed into the same image from glory to glory, 
even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 



The Rechabite and the Christian. 



" The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not 
to drink wine, are performed; for unto this day they drink none, but obey their 
father's commandment. Notwithstanding I have spoken unto you, rising early 
and speaking; but ye harkened not unto Me." — Jer. xxxv, 14. 

Jonadab, or, as his name is elsewhere written, 
Jehonadab, lived during the reigns of Jehoram and 
Jehu, nearly 300 years before the delivery of this 
prophecy. He was the founder of the semi-religious 
sect or order of Rechabites. Rechab, his father, 
belonged to a branch of the Kenites, an Arab family — 
a family whose history became strangely interwoven 
with that of Israel. When Moses was an exile from 
the land of Egypt in the land of Midian, he became 
connected with this tribe of Kenites by marriage. 
When he led Israel out of Egypt, for a season he 
sojourned in the country of the Kenites, and when 
he left, some of them, probably his connections by 
marriage, accompanied him in his travels, and entered 
with his people into the land of Palestine. When the 
Israelites became settled, the Kenites betook them- 
selves to the wilderness, determined to maintain their 
Arab, or nomadic manner of life. We find one branch 
of the family in northern Palestine represented by 
Heber, in whose tent Sisera, the Syrian, was slain 

[155] 



ij6 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

after his defeat by Barak and Deborah. We find 
another branch of the family in southern Palestine, 
near the town of Jabez; to this section Rechab and 
his son Jonadab belonged. 

The first instance in which Jonadab is brought 
prominently into the historical narrative is in con- 
nection with Jehu. Jehu was commander-in-chief 
of the army of Jehoram, the son of Ahab. While en- 
gaged in the siege of Ramoth-Gilead, he was anointed 
king by the prophet Elisha. As soon as this fact was 
published the army declared for him with great en- 
thusiasm. With the army at his back and knowing 
that promptitude of action was all-important, he set 
out at once for Jezreel, the capital of the kingdom, 
in order to dethrone the reigning monarch and take 
possession of the government. Subsequently, while 
on the way from Jezreel to Samaria he met Jehona- 
dab. The austere Arab chief was on foot. Jehu was 
in his chariot. No doubt Jehonadab was a man of 
reputation — of reputation for wisdom, for integrity 
and piety. Jehu recognizing him, halted for a 
moment, beckoned him to him, and taking him by 
the hand, lifted him into his chariot, seated him be- 
side him and said : " Come with me and see my zeal 
for the Lord of Hosts." 

Jehonadab rode with him to Samaria, and no doubt 
was with him as counsellor and auxiliary in the terribly 
bloody tragedy that immediately followed. He ap- 
pears only once more in the history and then not as 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. i$j 

an actual participant, but as an approving spectator 
of the destruction of the worshipers of Baal. 

In the text the obedience of the sons of Jonadab 
is placed in contrast with the obedience of the ser- 
vants of the Most High. Jehonadab gave to his sons 
certain rules of life that he desired to be observed 
by them and their posterity through all generations. 
These rules were that they should drink no wine; 
sow no seed; plant no vineyard, nor possess any; 
that they should build no houses, no cities or villages, 
but should dwell in tents and practice a severe as- 
ceticism, and carefully observe the habits of their 
ancestors forever. Jehonadab does not give his 
reason for such rules of life, but to have prescribed 
them he must have been deeply convinced of their 
wisdom, and their importance to the welfare of his 
sons. 

He plainly laid himself liable to the charge of 
being an " old fogy." He had great respect for his 
ancestors — a high regard for their opinions and prac- 
tices. They led a pastoral life, and that life he held 
was good enough for him and his posterity. He 
was not a man of progress, in the popular sense of 
the word; he was not " up to the times." He was 
something like an old gentleman whom I knew in 
a country charge which I once served. I visited 
him in his mountain home. His residence was a log 
cabin. In its log chimney I observed that the fire 
had at some remote time burned an opening large 



ij8 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

enough for a man to pass through. Said I : " Mr. 
B., why do you not repair your chimney? " " Well," 
said he, " that was burned when my father was a 
young man, and he lived to be 70 years old (and our 
Mr. B. was now no less than 70 years old), and he 
never repaired it. It was good enough for him, and 
I am no better than he was." He had more respect 
for his father's opinions and whims than for his own 
wisdom or his own comfort. We believe in true 
progress; but we believe also that it would be far 
better for the young men and the young women 
of the present day if they had more of the spirit of 
" old fogyism " about them; if they had greater rev- 
erence for the opinions and character, and the lives 
of their fathers and their mothers. The little upstart 
of to-day, as destitute of wisdom as he is of filial 
reverence, will say : " Father is behind the times, 
mother is out of fashion," and discard them as coun- 
sellors and guides, or as models after which to shape 
his character and life. Poor simpleton ! It will not 
be long before he will learn to his sorrow that far 
better would it have been for him if he had had a 
profounder veneration for father and mother. 

Jonadab, no doubt, believed also that the pastoral 
life would be more promotive of the virtue and happi- 
ness of his family and his posterity; and these surely 
are more to be desired than vast estates, or palatial 
homes, or magnificent cities with all their accom- 
paniments of leisure, luxury and licentiousness. 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 159 



Then, further, Jonadab was a prohibitionist of the 
strictest type. He charged his sons that they should 
drink no wine, nor should their posterity after them. 
What would he have said had the vile decoctions of 
our day been known in his time, or had he witnessed 
the awful havoc of " the whiskey devil " as we see 
it ! He was not a scientist, and yet it is plain that he 
knew something of the laws of heredity; he knew, no 
doubt, that the wine, or the whiskey habit in the 
father will most likely entail on the son a proclivity 
for a like indulgence. Whether he knew it or not 
it is a truth; and if for no other reason his prohibition 
was wise and good. The young man who has fallen 
a victim to that habit in all probability deserves your 
pity, as much as your blame; he has inherited the pro- 
clivity in that direction from his father or his grand- 
father. It is true that these inherited proclivities are 
sometimes like the streams in the limestone regions 
of our country, which will suddenly disappear, and 
after flowing for miles beneath the surface, will as 
suddenly burst out into the light again. Certain 
diseases of the body, known as hereditary, will dis- 
appear from one generation, or perhaps two genera- 
tions, but in the third they may manifest themselves 
again. So with all vicious indulgence. Their bitter 
fruits are not all gathered by those who participate 
in them. By a law of nature they go down as an in- 
heritance to their children. An enfeebled constitu- 
tion, a deranged nervous organism, and inordinate 



160 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

vicious propensities in the children are some of the 
results of vice in the father or mother. After a while 
comes the final fruitage in the extermination of the 
family. There has been many a family name in our 
country that has perished from our own annals, and 
many more will perish. Jonadab desired that the 
robust, vigorous manhood of his posterity should 
be maintained; and therefore he would subject them 
to the regimen of the strictest discipline. He foresaw 
the coming destruction of the licentious families and 
licentious communities round about him. And we 
may foresee such destruction as plainly as he. 

There is a poor young man who has scarcely 
reached his thirtieth year. He ought to be in the 
vigor of young manhood. But alas ! he totters as 
he walks the streets. He never had any vigor. Why? 
Because of the viciousness of his ancestry that poor 
frail frame of his is filled with the seeds of disease and 
decay. An early grave awaits him. Pity is it that his 
father had not died before giving being to offspring 
that must bear the curse of his crimes ! 

We are told in the text that the sons of Jonadab 
obeyed the commandment of their father. They did 
so under right trying circumstances. They were in 
a land celebrated for its grapes, and in a land of 
wine-drinking people. We read of the " drunkards 
of Ephraim." Let no one tell us, as some theologians 
have it, that the wines of the Bible were not intoxi- 
cating. It was its intoxicating, maddening property 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 16 1 

that gave point and pith to Jonadab's charge. His 
sons were in danger of drunkenness and its attendant 
vices and miseries. Drink was fashionable; drink was 
popular. The king and the queen, and the cabinet 
officers, and their families — and upper tendom — all 
around, probably indulged in the luxury of wine. 
Yes, and lower tendom, too. And it is a very difficult 
matter for a man to be altogether singular in Rome — 
peculiar in his views — peculiar in his habits; on the 
contrary, the strong tendency is to do as Rome does. 

They were living, too, in a land of magnificent 
homes — a land of splendid cities and beautiful villages 
and royal estates, and they witnessed the ease, com- 
fort and luxury of the possessors of these estates and 
dwellers in these homes. And it would not have been 
at all strange if they had said, " We must make 
money, too; " " by hook or by crook " we must make 
money; and we must have an elegant home with its 
beautiful and complete appointments. That would 
have been altogether natural. 

Moreover, they were subjected, as we learn from 
the context, to a very peculiar temptation to violate 
the charge of their father. Jeremiah was everywhere 
acknowledged to be a good man, a holy man, a 
prophet of the Most High God. He led certain of 
these Rechabites into one of the chambers of the 
temple, and set before them pots of wine, sparkling 
and tempting, and bade them drink. Surely there 
can be no wrong in it when the good man thus sets 



i6z True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



it before them — no wrong if the prophet of the Most 
High thus bids them drink! Do they yield? Ah! 
he knew that they would not yield, and did this only 
for a text for the sermon which follows. They with- 
stood him bravely, and said to the man of God : " No ! 
we never did drink any wine. Our fathers charged us 
that we should never drink any, and we never will." 
Many a poor, weak young man will take the sparkling 
glass at the hand of a giddy, thoughtless girl — even 
that is temptation too strong for him. He knows 
she is a girl of the world with no sense of religious 
obligation, and yet yields to her solicitation. These 
men resisted the invitation of the acknowledged man 
of God. AYhat a contrast between that young man 
and the Rechabites ! 

Their obedience and constancy in this matter set 
before us in a very strong light and at great disad- 
vantage, we must say, the disobedience and incon- 
stancy of God's professed people. 

Jonadab was only a man. He was not an inspired 
man. He made no claim to a commission from the 
Most High. His authority was only that of an 
earthly father — a wise and loving father, yet com- 
passed with frailties and imperfections. God, on the 
contrary, is the Infinite and Eternal, the Lord of 
angels and the Lord and Maker of all worlds. He 
has absolute power and authority in the armies of 
heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. 

Jonadab had been a long time dead — perhaps for 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 16 3 

two centuries. He could not now operate among 
them by the influence of his personal presence and 
example. On the other hand, God, who speaks to 
His people, is the ever-living and ever-present One. 
It is impossible that they should ever be beyond the 
limits of His omnipresence, or find any position in 
which His flaming eyes will not rest upon them. 
Everywhere and always they are, or ought to be, 
under the restraining and impulsive power of this 
awful truth, " Thou God seest me." 

Jonadab, so far as the record shows, took no steps 
to promulgate or perpetuate his charge among his 
posterity. He simply delivered it orally to his sons. 
If those who came after ever heard it they must do so 
through the voluntary action of those who received 
it from his lips. God, on the contrary, has taken all 
possible means to make known His will and to im- 
press upon the minds and consciences of the children 
of men the signs of His authority and their obliga- 
tions. He has spoken to them from heaven by 
angelic ministry and by His own Son. He has sent 
unto them His prophets, " rising up early and sending 
them." He has sent unto them His written word, 
sent to them a living ministry, given to them a church 
with all its gracious influences and appliances to 
bring them to obedience and to keep them in obe- 
dience. 

Jonadab had nothing to promise his sons as a 
reward, conditioned on their fidelity, except this: 



16^ True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

" That ye may live many days in the land where ye 
be strangers." He had no great estates to leave 
them — could not say to them, These houses and 
lands shall be yours if you keep my charge. God, 
on the contrary, has a great estate. Infinite good 
is in His hand. And He proposes through His word 
to reward fidelity with the gift of all needed good on 
earth, and all the glory of heaven. 

Now then, if the Rechabites thus obeyed the charge 
of a man — a man long since dead — a man who had no 
great good to offer them as a reward of fidelity, for 
an infinitely stronger reason should the servants of 
God render faithful obedience to Him. And in pro- 
portion to the strength of the reason for obedience 
is their obligation to obey, and the guilt of disregard 
of His claims and disobedience to His righteous 
commandments. 

The thought of the text is susceptible of forceful 
application at the present day. We have among us 
various secret Orders. Some of them, the Masonic 
especially, have come down from a remote antiquity; 
but these Orders are all merely of human origin; 
none of them can claim divine authorship; 'they are 
only voluntary associations of men for moral, chari- 
table and social ends. 

On the other hand we have an organization, the 
church, which is of God. Its foundation is the work 
of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is modelled by 
a divine Architect, it is reared by 'divine agencies. 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 165 

In the church, God lodges all good; its end is to 
confer with the help of the divine Spirit every moral 
and spiritual good or benefit that humanity can need. 
And where the church measures up fully to the divine 
ideal, there can be no need for Masonry, and Odd 
Fellowship, and Good Templarism, or any organiza- 
tion of that character. They are good and useful; 
but I do not hesitate to say, though speaking to 
members of these orders, and belonging to some of 
them myself, that all the good in all of them is to be 
found in the church of God; and whenever the church 
comes up to the divine ideal there will be found no 
room or need for them. 

Persons entering the secret Orders are very 
properly required to assume an obligation of fidelity. 
So persons entering the church of God, are required 
to assume a solemn obligation of fealty to the Lord 
of heaven and of earth. There is no member of any 
church who has not assumed such an obligation. In 
all the different branches of Protestantism this obli- 
gation is essentially the same, the same in our land, 
the same the world over. 

Masonry, for example, has been handed down from 
generation to generation from the days of Solomon, 
perhaps from even a more ancient date, only by oral 
tradition. It has lived on the personal fidelity of 
the members of the Order, and so lived, that it is as 
pure and more powerful to-day than ever before in 
its history. The church has had not oral tradition but 



166 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

the living word; not the lecturer sent out by the 
supreme Lodge or Commandery, but the preacher 
commissioned by the God of Heaven. It has its 
sacred monumental symbols, the Sacrament of the 
Lord's Supper and the Sacrament of Baptism, and a 
history illuminated at well nigh every step by mighty 
signs and wonders, and deeds of the sublimest moral 
heroism that the world has ever witnessed. 

The vow of Masonry, for example, is esteemed so 
sacred that a man shrinks with dismay at the thought 
of its violation; and let there be a flagrant violation 
of the obligations and in so far as it is known among 
the members of the Order, he is a disgraced man for 
life. The vow assumed by the member of the church 
of Jesus Christ is more solemn far than any that any 
human organization can exact. In the latter God 
is a witness; but in that assumed by the church mem- 
ber, He is not simply a witness, but one of the con- 
tracting parties. The vow is " Unto the Lord." He 
comes much nearer in this case than in the other, 
and by as much as He is the nearer, by so much is 
the vow more sacred and the obligation of obedience 
more solemn. Moreover, that vow contemplates 
the highest and holiest interests of the universe. The 
welfare of all nations, tribes and tongues is involved 
in the fidelity of the church. And not men only, 
but all intelligences in all worlds watch with 
deepest interest its fortunes, and its character. By 
the church God makes known to the principalities 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. i6y 

and powers in the heavenly places, His manifold 
wisdom, goodness and grace. 

And yet, alas ! and yet — you know what follows ! 
Men and women will assume this the most sacred of 
all vows and then trample it under their feet and still 
lift up their heads in God's world as if there had 
been no breach made upon their integrity, as though 
no insult had been given to the majesty of heaven. 
There is a man, you know him; there is a lady, you 
know her very well; she stood, he stood at the altar 
of one of our churches, and before God, and, in the 
hearing of all His people, took the solemn obligation. 
The season of special religious interest had scarcely 
passed away before that man, that woman, with 
well-nigh utter disregard of the solemn engagement, 
entered as deeply into the world's follies as ever be- 
fore ! And still society puts its arms round about 
them and caresses, courts and flatters them. Had 
the man violated the oath of some important ofhce 
committed to him by his fellow men, impeachment 
and disgrace would have followed. Had he betrayed 
important pecuniary trusts, arrest, trial and punish- 
ment would have been demanded by public opinion. 
Had he violated a Masonic vow he would have been 
regarded as dishonored. But he has only betrayed 
a divine trust, only embezzled God's property, only 
this, nothing more ! and society does not consider 
itself at all compromised by taking the embezzler and 
traitor into its warmest embrace! Alas for society! 



i68 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



But whatever earthly society may do in the case, 
we may be very sure that in the eyes of God and in 
the eyes of the heavenly society he is a dishonored 
man; and God's angel has written upon his brow in 
letters that the unfallen ones of all worlds may read, 
dishonored ! dishonored ! ! dishonored ! ! ! — dishonored 
because he violated his vow of fealty and affection 
to the Lord Most High. 

" Now, therefore, hear ye the words of the Lord : 
Because the sons of Jonadab, the son of Rechab have 
performed the commandment of their father, which 
he commanded them; but this people hath not 
harkened unto me: Therefore, saith the Lord God 
of Hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring upon 
Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all 
the evil that I have pronounced against them: be- 
cause I have spoken unto them, but they have not 
heard; and I have called unto them, but they have 
not answered." 

Take heed lest these words be fulfilled upon us. 



GRANBY-STREET M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH, NORFOLK, VA. 



The Believer's Love of the Church. 



" I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord, 
Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem," &c. — Psalms cxxii. 

It is supposed by some expositors that this Psalm 
was written immediately after Absalom's overthrow 
and before David's reinstatement on the throne; 
others think that it was composed after Cyrus issued 
his proclamation liberating the people from their 
seventy years' captivity, and while they were pre- 
paring to return, or were already returning to their 
own country; there are others who think it was 
written on the eve of some one of their great religious 
festivals, and was used by the people as they went up 
from all parts of the country to the holy city. It 
was well suited to either of these occasions. 

But its date, authorship, and the circumstances 
that inspired it, are of far less interest and importance 
to us than its subject matter, the spirit that breathes 
through it, and the sentiment to which it gives ex- 
pression. It is evidently the work of a consecrated 
genius, the utterance of a soul sweetly attuned to 
spiritual harmonies, a heart deeply in love with divine 
things. Whatever its literal sense, we do not put a 
forced construction on it when we give it an entirely 
spiritual application. Its author could not have 
ii [169] 



170 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

described in terms more forceful and beautiful the 
believer's love of the church, his delight in her ordinances 
and his interest in her welfare. If in our meditations 
on it, we can only catch the spirit of his fervor and 
kindle the fire of our love into an intenser glow, it 
will not be in vain that we have come up " unto the 
testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the Lord." 

I. To undertake to prove that the Christian loves 
the church, w^ould be a waste of time. Every 
believing soul immediately responds to the statement, 
out of its own experience affirming its truth. When 
we sing, " I love Thy kingdom, Lord," we do not 
utter a merely poetic sentiment, but a truth attested 
by the Christian consciousness everywhere and al- 
ways. The Psalmist does not express the feeling too 
strongly when he says, " If I forget thee, O Jeru- 
salem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I 
do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the 
roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my 
chief joy." " I had rather be a doorkeeper in the 
house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wicked- 
ness." Nor is this love confined to the spiritual facts 
and elements of the church, but embraces the material 
also; " Thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and 
favor the dust thereof." Her grounds, her walls, and 
towers, her pulpit, pews and altars, hallowed by 
precious memories and consecrated by the manifest 
tokens of the divine presence and favor, are all dear 
to the hearts of her children. To know nothing of 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. iyi 

this love for the church is just cause for apprehension, 
and any oositive indifference may well excite alarm. 
Indifference to the church, the body, is indifference 
to Christ, the Head; and indifference to Christ at 
once seals our condemnation. 

II. This love is not a blind, unthinking devotion. 
It has its source in an intelligent appreciation of the 
intrinsic worth and loveliness of its object. The 
church commands the admiration of angels as 
well as of men. And it is not possible for one to 
contemplate its spiritual beauty and glory, and ex- 
perience the grace which comes to men through its 
agencies and not have the fire of a holy affection 
for it enkindled in his heart. Why did the Psalmist 
love Jerusalem? In the answer to this question we 
have the reasons for our love of the church. 

I. He loved Jerusalem because of its compactness, 
its strength and stability; its buildings were not 
scattered over a wide extent of country, but were 
contiguous and thus each strengthened and sup- 
ported the other. Its streets were spacious and fair, 
and its walls and towers were massive and formidable. 

The Jebusites having been expelled, the population 
was homogeneous. They were of one blood — heirs 
of the same promise, having a common faith and 
hope. While, therefore, it was " built as a city that 
is compact together " in a material sense, it was com- 
pacted, cemented, by the tenclerest and strongest of 
all ties, those of family and religion. 



IJ2 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



The church, the city of our God, is built after a plan 
on which divine wisdom and love have lavished the 
resources of infinite skill. It rests on a foundation 
more stable than the ribs of stone undergirding Jeru- 
salem. It is built of materials cut from the quarries 
and forests of humanity, and squared, polished and 
fitted to their places by the eternal Spirit. And as 
we " walk about Zion, and go around about her, tell 
the towers thereof, mark well her bulwarks and con- 
sider her palaces," we see unity, compactness and 
strength in every part. 

There is unity of doctrine. Its doctrinal system, 
beginning with the being and perfection of God and 
culminating in the glorification of redeemed hu- 
manity, is an orderly and compact arrangement of 
truths profound and glorious, such as it never entered 
into the heart of man to conceive. These truths have 
their source and reason in the divine wisdom, are per- 
fectly adapted to human need and in their application 
and results glorify their Author. They are perfectly 
adjusted one to the other. Each one is essential to 
the completeness and harmony of the system. So 
compacted are they that no philosophic acumen 
or logical skill, and no ingenuity of human or hellish 
hate can dislodge one of them from its place. 

There is unity of character and life among the 
inhabitants of this spiritual city. They are gathered 
from every nation, tribe and tongue; but they are 
all of one blood; they bear the same family likeness; 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. ' 173 

they speak the same language. Washed in the blood 
of the Lamb, born of the Holy Ghost, renewed after 
the image of God, they have " one Lord, one faith, 
one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above 
all, and through all, and in them all." They all drink 
of the same fountain of holy joy, and are all partakers 
of the same glorious hope. They are one in life, in 
love, in interest and aim. Thus compacted together, 
how sweet their communion. What weapon that is 
formed against them can prosper? kt Strong in the 
strength which God supplies through His eternal 
Son." They are invincible and triumphant. The 
Jerusalem of old, so compactly built, so strongly 
fortified, so enthroned in the love of her people and 
so bravely defended, has long since been shorn of 
all her ancient glory; but against this Jerusalem, 
which is from above the gates of hell, shall never 
prevail. 

2. He loved Jerusalem because it was the seat of 
the national worship. " Thither the tribes went up, 
the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, 
to give thanks unto the name of the Lord." David 
built a tabernacle on Mount Zion. He brought the 
ark of the Lord from the house of Obededom and 
placed it in the tabernacle. He placed an altar of 
incense in the holy place before the veil and an altar 
of burnt offering in the court before the tabernacle. 
He divided the priests into twenty-four classes, or- 
daining that each class should serve a week at a 



i J 4- True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

time.* He organized a great choir of four thousand 
singers and players on instruments. He put in 
operation all the machinery of their imposing ritual 
on a grander and more impressive scale than ever 
before in their history. And now from all parts of 
the kingdom three times a year the people gathered 
in Jerusalem. They come for instruction in the testi- 
monies of the Lord, to consult His oracles, and to 
hear what He will say unto them. They come to 
present their offerings of thanksgiving and of ex- 
piation. While they thus honor Him, they commune 
one with another, and strengthen the bonds of mutual 
friendship and affection and intensify the ardor of 
their patriotism. 

The church is " the true tabernacle which the Lord 
pitched and not man." In it God deposits His testi- 
mony, not tables of stone, but the completed revela- 
tion of His truth and grace. Here is also an altar of 
sacrifice, an altar of incense, a mercy seat, an atoning 
Lamb and a great high-priest. Here, too, is the 
presence of God, not the dazzling splendor of the 
shekinal glory but His spiritual presence in the 
word, in His sacraments, and in the believing soul 
sanctifying it unto Himself and imparting to it the 
joy of His great salvation. He is ever thus in the 
congregation of the righteous. 

Thither His people go up, not under the compul- 
sion of a stern command, but under the sweetly 
impulsive force of love divine. In the religion of the 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 175 

gospel there is a sort of spiritual magnetism. It 
draws human hearts together. As soon as a man 
comes into the experience of its saving grace he 
wishes to find some one else who is in its enjoyment. 
The assembling of Christians together is but the 
natural working of this attractive power. Let a 
number of them, strangers to each other, go into a 
strange community; they have never heard each 
others' names; they are not brought into business 
or social relations with each other; they do not cross 
each others' path in every day life; yet they soon 
find each other out and are taking sweet counsel 
together. Those who are alive in Christ will come 
together. There is no need for any such command 
as was given to the Jew, nor for the exhortation of 
the apostle, " Forsake not the assembling of your- 
selves together," while the heart is aglow with the 
love of Christ. There is in such souls a yearning 
which nothing will satisfy but the communion of 
saints. 

They come to talk of His righteousness and of all 
His wondrous works; of their hopes and fears, their 
trials and triumphs; and to gather new courage and 
strength for the toils of the way. While they talk, 
God hearkens and hears. They see not the outspread 
page and the moving pen, but a book of remembrance 
is being written before Him for them that fear the 
Lord and think upon His name. 

They come to give thanks unto His name for the 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



tokens of His love that crowd their lives; to praise 
Him for His goodness and truth, for the riches of 
His grace and the wealth of His glory ; for His work 
for them as sinners. His work in them as penitent 
believers, and for the blissful hope of the rest of 
heaven. 

They come to make prayer and supplication for 
His continued blessing; for the guidance of His hand 
and the protection of His power: for the abiding 
witness and sanctifying power of His Spirit and the 
comforts of His grace. And not for themselves only 
do they pray; but also for the dear ones of their 
homes, for their brethren in Christ, and for the great 
outside world. As the smoke of the burning incense 
ascended, filling the sanctuary with its fragrant cloud 
and diffusing its odors through all the court, so their 
prayers ascend to God as sweet incense kindled with 
the fire of humble trust and holy love. 

They come to hear what God the Lord will speak; 
to listen to His word as read and expounded by those 
whom He has called and commissioned for this 
special work. In hearing His ministers they hear 
Him: and with reverence and faith they feed on the 
milk and strong meat of the word. It is sweet to 
their taste, satisfying to their longing appetite, 
strength to their souls and the joy and rejoicing of 
their hearts. And as faith comes by hearing and 
hearing by the word of God, listening to the truth 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. ijy 

as delivered by a living ministry they are equipped 
for the fight and the victory of faith. 

3. He loved Jerusalem because it was the royal 
city; " There are set thrones of judgment, the thrones 
of the house of David." It was the seat of royal 
authority, power and splendor. There were gathered 
the ministers of state, the mighty men in counsel 
and in war, as well as the dignitaries of religion. 
Thence royal decrees were issued. There honors 
were conferred, rewards for faithful service bestowed, 
and justice administered. There were originated and 
put in motion those potent influences and agencies 
that moulded public opinion and character, quickened 
the patriotism of the people, developed the material 
and moral strength of the kingdom and prepared it 
for either defence or aggression as the public interest 
might require. 

The church is the city of a King. It is God's 
capital on earth. In it is the throne of " the Prince 
of the house of David," at once David's son and 
David's Lord. To Him all power is given in heaven 
and in earth. To Him has been committed the ad- 
ministration of the affairs of God's gracious kingdom. 
The end at which He aims is the complete overthrow 
of the powers of darkness and the subjugation of all 
things unto Himself. In the fulness of time, this aim 
will be triumphantly accomplished. 

He carries forward His work in the world through 
the church as His instrument. In and through the 



iy8 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

church He puts in operation those spiritual forces 
whereby His people are unified, matured, strength- 
ened and fitted for effective service. By the church 
He publishes His will — the law which condemns and 
the gospel which redeems, pardons and saves. The 
church in her collective capacity, with all her intel- 
lectual and moral power, with all her spiritual gifts, and 
with all her material resources, He commissions to 
preach the gospel to every creature. It is in the church 
that He originates and organizes those agencies 
whereby humanity shall at last be liberated from the 
bondage of Satan. There is not on earth an organiza- 
tion at work for the suppression of vice, the overthrow 
of sin and the promotion and establishment of holiness 
that is not the product of influences generated in the 
church. Nor is there power to achieve such ends 
lodged anywhere on earth except in the church. The 
oracles of heathenism are dumb, proud philosophy 
bows her head in silence, and all the devices of worldy 
wisdom and ingenuity are powerless when confronted 
by the mighty problems of human depravity and 
guilt, human deliverance, and the tremendous issues 
of the world to come. But from His throne the King 
makes proclamation : " The Spirit of the Lord God 
is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach 
the gospel to the poor: He hath sent me to heal the 
broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, 
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty 
them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. iyg 

of the Lord." The church is at once the living wit- 
ness of the truth of His mission and the reality of His 
saving and keeping power and the channel of its 
communication to the world. 

If then the church is thus beautiful in her unity and 
glorious in her strength, holy in her worship and 
heavenly in her aims and hopes, the dwelling place 
of our King, the medium of all spiritual blessing, the 
joy of Christ and the wonder of angels, Christ-less 
and cold must be that heart that does not glow with 
love for her courts. 

III. Wherever real love for the church exists it 
will find expression. It cannot be concealed. It 
does not seek or desire to be hidden. To attempt to 
hide it is to smother and extinguish its fire. It will 
manifest itself in many ways : 

i. In a glad appreciation of the ordinances of the 
church and in the improvement of its privileges. 
" I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into 
the house of the Lord." We know what gladness 
is; we have seen its smile on the face of nature and 
heard its song in the myriad voices of field and forest, 
in the prattle and laughter of infancy and in the spor- 
tive shouts of boyhood. We have seen its light 
kindling in the sunken eye of poverty and its silver 
lining on the dark clouds of sorrow. We have felt 
it when our worldly hopes have been realized ; when 
we have looked in the face and grasped the hand of 
the friend of other days; or when the loved one of our 



180 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

home has been returned to us from the mouth of the 
grave. But far deeper, richer still, was our experience 
of it in that " blest hour when from above we first re- 
ceived the pledge of love," when we first felt the 
loving arms of Jesus about us and heard the whispers 
of His grace in our hearts. Though many years may 
have passed since that hour the memory of it still 
makes us glad, and will make us glad forever. Akin 
to this is the feeling of the lover of Christ and His 
church towards the ordinances of His house. " I 
was glad " — felt a profound satisfaction of soul, an 
exultation of spirit and an eagerness of anticipation — 
" when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of 
the Lord." Xo proposition could be more welcome, 
and no errand more delightful. The tents of wicked- 
ness, the shops of vanity, the gilded halls of frivolity 
with all their fascinating splendors, what are they 
when compared with the place where His honor 
dwelleth? What are bleak winds and clouded skies 
when He opens His gates, and opens wider still His 
loving arms to take me to His embrace? Nor will 
we measure our communion with Him by the minute. 
We say we hope to " dwell in the house of the Lord 
forever,'' and anticipate eternal fellowship with Him 
as the consummation of the joy of heaven. To 
count the moments now or grow weary of the brief 
hour of His worship, casts suspicion on the reality 
of our gladness in the privileges of His house and 
the truth of our professed hope for the future. 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 181 

2. In prayer for its welfare. This will follow as a 
necessary fruit of real love for the church. There 
will be prayer for its peace. It ought to be a haven 
of repose where weary, troubled hearts, burdened 
by the cares and tossed by the storms of the world, 
may find rest. Love unfeigned should reign in every 
heart. As envies, jealousies, strifes and hatreds not 
only mar its beauty but paralyze its energies, destroy 
its spiritual influence and grieve the Holy Spirit, the 
faithful, loving soul is ever praying that no breath of 
discord may disturb its holy serenity. It is not prayer 
for peace with the world. This can only be secured at 
the cost of fidelity to Christ. There can be no com- 
promise to win its friendship. That friendship, when 
won, " is enmity with God; whosoever therefore will 
be the friend of the world is the enemy of God." To 
court its favor by complaisance or surrender is to 
forfeit all claim to its respect, wound our own con- 
science and dishonor God. Let the lines be clearly 
drawn; let the separation be complete; let the antago- 
nism between the friends and the enemies of Christ be 
sharply defined, and let the conflict be irrepressible; 
but let peace, mutual sympathy and love reign in all 
the borders of Zion. 

There will be prayer also for prosperity — the pros- 
perity that consists in spiritual development and 
fruitfulness; in growth in grace and in the knowledge 
of Jesus Christ; in increased faith and love, Christian 
activity and power, resulting in the awakening and 



182 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



salvation of the ungodly and the edifying and estab- 
lishing of them that believe. The reasons for such 
prayer are twofold; one reason is personal, the other 
relative; first, for my own sake, and second, " for 
my brethren's and companions' sakes." Our indivi- 
dual welfare is, to a great extent, dependent on the 
peace and prosperity of the church. We cannot 
shake off the influence of our surroundings. Let 
the church be rent by feuds, or let general spiritual 
deadness prevail, and, fight against it as we may, our 
hope will decline and our love grow cold. We 
mourn, we weep, we pray, and yet find ourselves sink- 
ing down to the level of those about us. So with 
those we love. Our brethren in Christ, our brethren 
after the flesh, the companions of our life abroad, 
the companions of our life at home, our sons and 
our daughters, all have immortal interests at stake. 
Their spiritual fortunes, as well as our own, 
are involved in the condition of the church. Or- 
dained to save, through human weakness and pas- 
sion, it may become the occasion of their final over- 
throw. But let " peace be within her walls and pros- 
perity within her palaces ; " and from her courts 
streams of spiritual life will flow out, watering and 
refreshing our hearts and our homes, and making the 
desert to blossom as the garden of the Lord. 

3. This love will manifest itself in earnest, active 
effort to promote the welfare of the church. "I will 
seek thy good." This is more than thinking about its 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. i8j 

good; more than talking about it with our friends; 
more than personal enjoyment of its privileges; more 
than the most fervent prayer for its peace and pros- 
perity. This is the culmination of all, the crowning 
proof of the sincerity of our prayers, the reality of 
our enjoyment and the honesty of our expressions of 
interest. " I will seek thy good." Too many of us 
stop short of this. We are willing enough to think 
and talk, and enjoy, and pray. But when work is 
to be done, others must do it; when burdens are to 
be borne, or sacrifices to be made, or hardships en- 
dured, we begin to make excuse. But what avails all 
our praying if there be no corresponding effort. The 
true lover of the church will not, cannot, rest in sing- 
ing psalms and in vociferous prayers and shouts. He 
is ready for any service for the honor of Christ and 
the good of Zion. His language is, " All to thee I 
owe! all to thee I give; soul, body, spirit, intellectual 
gifts and acquirements, position, influence, means, 
all are thine. Here am I, Lord; send me on any 
errand; use me in any work; lay upon me any burden, 
that will promote the good of the church and glorify 
thy grace." 

O King of Zion, breathe into the hearts of all Thy 
servants; kindle their love into a flame that will burn 
out all the dross of irresolute purpose, worldly con- 
formity and selfish aim, and give them that spirit of 
complete devotion and that strength of soul that will 
inspire and enable them to toil without weariness for 
Zion's good. 



The Righteousness of the Church. 



" For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will 
not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation 
thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, 
and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth 
of the Lord shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the 
Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed 
Forsaken; neither thy land any more be termed Desolate; but thou shalt be 
called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah; for the Lord delighteth in thee, and 
thy land shall be married." — Isaiah lxii, 1-4. 

Zion is the hill or hills on which David built his 
palace, and a city called after him the city of David. 
Here also was the site of the tabernacle in which he 
placed the ark of the Lord, and later, of the temple 
and other edifices built by Solomon. Jerusalem was 
the great city adjacent. The two names are often 
used interchangeably in the Scriptures. The two 
constituted the civil and religious capital of the 
nation : the seat of temporal power, and of spiritual 
light and knowledge, and ceremonial worship. 

As Zion was the seat of the worship of the Most 
High, whence His law should go forth and His glory 
be revealed, it very naturally came to represent His 
spiritual church. In the passage before us the 
prophet is not speaking merely of the literal Zion and 
Jerusalem. He is looking beyond the visible and 
temporal to that which thev tvpified, the spiritual 

[184] ' 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 185 

and heavenly. As a patriot he loved his country, and 
could not but desire its welfare. But its highest 
material prosperity and power in his view dwindled 
into utter insignificance when compared with the 
security, enlargement and glory of the church. 
It is of this that he is thinking, and that is the object 
of his solicitude. 

His solicitude finds expression in ceaseless activity. 
" It will not rest — I will not hold my peace." As 
became his office he would intercede with God with- 
out ceasing, and without ceasing instruct, reprove, 
and warn the people. All the forces of his being, 
quickened and energized by the inspiring Spirit, were 
laid upon the altar of the church. He had no time to 
spare for other interests; no strength to waste, and 
no heart for anything outside his duty to God and 
the people. In his constant care, complete devotion, 
and diligent toil, he furnishes an instructive example 
not for the ministry only but for every member of 
the household of faith. It is an example which we will 
be glad to imitate in proportion to our faith in God 
and our love for Zion. 

His solicitude was altogether unselfish. " For 
Zion's sake — for Jerusalem's sake." He had no per- 
sonal ends to gain; no private or family interests to 
serve. Whatever may become of him and his house, 
he desires the good of the church. It is God's Zion, 
God's Jerusalem; and as a loving, faithful servant 
of God, he gives to His church the . first place in his 



1 86 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

heart. He and his are nothing when brought into 
competition with God and His cause. Thus self is 
to be lost sight of when the interests of the church 
are in question. Let God's cause be taken care of 
and His name be glorified whatever may become of 
us and ours. 

That for which the prophet was specially solicitous 
and for which he labored was that the righteousness 
of the church might " go forth as brightness, and the 
salvation thereof as a lamp that burnetii." 

Righteousness and salvation are inseparable. 
There cannot be righteousness without salvation as 
its fruit. There cannot be salvation without righteous- 
ness as the tree on which it grows. No one is saved 
who is not righteous; no one is righteous and yet fails 
of salvation. Righteousness therefore is the principal 
thing. This is the key that opens the door of hope 
and of heaven. 

This righteousness is twofold. First, righteousness 
of character. By this is meant the conformity of the 
inner life, the hidden man of the heart, to the rule 
of right, to truth, purity and goodness; thinking, 
feeling, choosing only in harmony with those immu- 
table principles of rectitude imbodied and inculcated 
in God's holy word. To fallen nature left to its own 
resources this righteousness is impossible. God alone 
can deliver the soul from the bondage of sin, cleanse 
it of its defilement, and create it anew. This He 
promises to do for every penitent believer. " From 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



is? 



all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse 
you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new 
spirit will I put within you." This promise is fulfilled 
in the experience of every one whom God accounts 
righteous. He " puts on the new man, which after 
God is created in righteousness and true holiness." 
In right relations to God, he is right within. Second, 
righteousness of life. The new life within must mani- 
fest itself in new living without. The good tree must 
show that it is good by bringing forth good fruit. 
The life must be projected and pursued on right lines, 
inspired by right motives, look to right ends. There 
must be no failure at either of these points. Such 
failure will discredit and nullify the work of the Spirit 
within. These two, the inner and the outer, cannot 
be disjoined. Righteousness of life without right- 
eousness of character is phariseeism, in God's sight a 
whited sepulchre. Righteousness of character with- 
out righteousness of life, like faith without works, is 
dead, being alone. 

This righteousness is exclusive. It is separation 
from all works and workers of iniquity. Its lines are 
sharply drawn. Its conditions and limitations are dis- 
tinctly defined. There is no border-land, no neutral 
ground on which righteousness and unrighteousness 
may meet and mingle, or where one shaded off into 
the other. To dally with sin, or look with favor or 
toleration upon it, is to forfeit righteous character, 
and is disloyalty to our righteous King. 



1 88 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

It was the prophet's supreme desire, and the end at 
which he aimed, that this righteousness of the church 
should be conspicuous; that it should " go forth as 
brightness," as the sun when shining in its strength. 
In his day the true glory of the church was to a 
sad extent eclipsed. Nor can we say the same is not 
true of our day. It is neither all light nor all dark- 
ness, but twilight; whether the morning or evening 
twilight, forerunner of glad sunshine or of black 
night, the future will decide. This state is the result, 
no doubt, in part of the church's failure to compre- 
hend fully her high privilege and mission. But it is 
due to a far greater extent to conformity to the spirit, 
maxims, and principles of the world. Those who 
claim to be the servants of God, often seem to vie 
with His enemies in the attempt to obliterate the line 
which the Holy One has drawn between light and 
darkness, good and evil, and to bring Christ and 
Belial, holiness and sin, into loving accord and fel- 
lowship. Thus is the church wounded in the house 
of her so-called friends. Laying her head upon the 
lap of those who profess to love her, listening to 
their honeyed words and yielding to their blandish- 
ments, she is shorn of her strength and glory, and 
becomes the sport and derision of her foes. 

The highest glory of the church is her spotless 
purity; her righteousness in character and righteous- 
ness in life; all her parts, and powers, and movements, 
vitalized and transfused with the Spirit and life of her 



True Heroism and Other Sermons, 189 



Lord, the incarnation and reflection of His glory. The 
most conspicuous figure in the world's history is 
Jesus of Nazareth; and the most conspicuous element 
in His character and life is His immaculate purity. 
If His enemies could point out any stain upon His 
character or any obliquity in His life, their triumph 
would be complete. We would feel that His glory 
was gone, and with it the foundations of our faith and 
hope. The church is His body, the " fulness of Him 
that fillet h all in all." It is the visible manifestation 
of Christ to the world. In and through the church 
He lives and moves among men and carries forward 
the great enterprises of His grace. By the church 
He proposes to subdue all things unto Himself. Let 
the righteousness of the body like that of the glorious 
head, " go forth as brightness." Let it not be ob- 
scured by the dark spots of pride, self-righteousness, 
love of the world, toleration of sin, sloth and indif- 
ference. Let the purity of the church be pronounced, 
uncompromising, conspicuous like the sun in mid- 
heaven. This is its highest privilege, its mission and 
glory. 

The prophet foresaw splendid results following 
such an exhibition of the righteousness of the church. 
When it is in a backslidden state, cold and formal, 
pervaded and dominated by a worldly spirit, the 
ungodly may well ask, as often unfortunately they 
find occasion to do, Wherein are church people any 
better than others? Wherein is the church any better 



i go True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

than the benevolent orders, or even as good as some 
of them? But let the church be adorned with the 
holiness that becomes God's house forever; let it be 
pure within and pure without, and there will be no 
room for doubt, or question, or comparison. Who 
thinks of asking whether the sun is shining at mid- 
day? Or who thinks of comparing his splendor with 
the light of the moon or the twinkle of a distant star? 
A few years ago a parliament of religions was held 
in which there were discussions of the relative merits 
of the great religious systems of the world. Such a 
parliament would have been impossible if the church 
of Christ had never compromised itself or its Lord 
by worldly conformity. It marks a sad decline from 
what Christ designed and provided that His church 
should be when it admits any other system whatsoever 
into comparison or competition with it. If the right- 
eousness of the church had always gone forth as 
brightness, pure and untarnished, the Gentiles would 
have seen it, and all kings would have done obeisance 
to its majesty. The self-evidencing power and glory 
of the church would have forbidden any questioning 
as to the supreme excellence and divine authority of 
the religion of Christ. Let the church be, as is its 
privilege, like our blessed Head, " holy, harmless, 
undefiled, and separate from sinners," and " the Gen- 
tiles will hasten to her light, and kings to the bright- 
ness of her rising." The great obstacle in the way 
of the salvation of the world is the unrighteousness 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. igi 



of the church — its failure to heed the voice, drink 
into the spirit, follow in the footsteps, and be con- 
trolled absolutely by the precepts of Jesus Christ. 
If the people called after His name will but " stand 
in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is 
the good way, and walk therein," the forces of hea- 
thenism would quickly melt away before them and the 
kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our 
God and His Christ." 

The church, righteous in character and demon- 
strating its righteousness by holy living, in addition 
to its might as an agency for the conversion of the 
world, shall be the joy and rejoicing of her King. 
" Thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the 
Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God." 
" Not on His head," says Matthew Henry, " as adding 
any real honor or power to Him, as crowns do to those 
who are crowned with them, but in His hand, as a 
glory and a beauty to Him " — in His hand, as some- 
thing to be admired for its beauty and prized for its 
value. In all the universe there is no beauty compar- 
able to the beauty of holiness. We cannot withhold 
our admiration from the beautiful in nature, in art 
and in literature; but in moral and spiritual beauty 
our admiration deepens into veneration. Men may 
stand erect while they look upon the heavens, " clad 
in the beauty of a thousand stars," or while they con- 
template the fairest creations of human genius; but 
they uncover their heads, and their hearts pay the 



ig2 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

tribute of their homage to exalted purity and good- 
ness. In the church, " clothed with the garments of 
salvation," " arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, 
which is the righteousness of the saints," whatsoever 
things are pure, and good, and true, have their 
highest and most complete expression. All glorious 
within, it is all beautiful without. And as there is 
no beauty that equals that of the church, so in all 
the universe there is nothing that cost so much, 
nothing on which infinite love has set so high a value. 
The eternal Son gave himself for it; not the beasts 
of the field and the cattle upon a thousand hills, and 
the birds of the air, but Himself; not mountains of 
gold or diamond worlds, but Himself; not one or 
many of the shining ones, untainted by sin, that ever 
waited before Him hearkening to the voice of His 
word, but Himself. We cannot grasp all the meaning 
of the selfhood of Christ. As divine, He gave His 
infinite perfection to the task of working out to a 
successful issue the scheme of redemption — rescuing 
the perishing, cleansing and keeping believers, guid- 
ing and governing the church and glorifying the re- 
deemed in heaven; as human, he gave Himself to 
poverty and toil, to persecution, reproach and sorrow, 
to buffeting, mocking and stripes, to the agony of 
Gethsemane and the desolation and death of the 
cross. He gave Himself, His whole self, for the 
church. It was born of the travail of His soul. The 
heartbreaking cries that come to us from Gethsemane 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. ipj 

and Calvary were its birth-throes. Born of His death 
it lives in His life. In its purity, triumphs, and final 
glory He is satisfied. 

Precious in the sight of God because of her right- 
eousness, she is " called by a new name, which the 
mouth of Lord shall name." The chosen people had 
been called rebels and traitors, idolaters and spiritual 
adulterers. Her enemies in derision had named her 
Desolate, Forsaken. There are no sadder words 
known to human speech — none expressive of keener 
reproach or deeper woe. Forsaken ! Friendship's 
ties all sundered; the light and love of other days all 
gone; the harpstrings all broken and the melodies of 
the soul all dead; nothing but the cold ashes of love 
and hope on the altar of the heart! A forsaken 
church! God's presence withdrawn; the angelic 
cohorts no longer marshalled for her defence; the 
Spirit no longer inspiring her services or guiding her 
movements; the living fire no longer burning on her 
altars; cold, formal, dead, she is the sport of the 
scoffer and the easy prey of the spoiler. But " thou 
shalt no more be termed, Forsaken." Having put 
away the sins that provoked God to hide His face 
from her, and having put on righteousness, the old 
names of reproach shall be forgotten, and she have 
a name significant of her new state and relation. 
What shall that name be? The early followers of 
Jesus called each other, brethren, believers, saints, 
disciples, Christians. God gave them a yet higher 



i$4 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



designation, calling them a chosen generation, a 
royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people. 
But none of these titles give full expression to the 
tenderness of His love for the church. Xor is there 
any word, or form of words, that can give us more 
than a faint conception of that love. To give us the 
clearest and highest possible conception of it, He 
compares it to the tenderest, dearest, and most in- 
timate of all earthly relationships. " Thou shalt be 
called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah; for the Lord 
delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married." 
Hephzibah means my pleasure, my delight; Beulah 
means married. The two words together convey the 
thought that God marries the church to Himself and 
delights in her as His spouse. " As the bridegroom 
rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over 
thee.*'' This representation of the relation between 
God and the church is not peculiar to Isaiah. It is 
common to the Bible. One entire Book, the Song of 
Solomon, is founded on this idea: Christ, or God in 
Christ, the Husband of the church. In the parable 
of the Ten Virgins, and in other places in the Xew 
Testament, Christ represents Himself as the Bride- 
groom, and in the Book of Revelation the church 
is called " the bride, the Lamb's wife." 

How sacred the obligation imposed by this rela- 
tion. If Caesar's wife must be above suspicion, what 
of the bride of Christ? Would it not be monstrous 
in her to subject herself to the slightest suspicion of 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



x 95 



unfaithfulness and impurity? How can she stop for 
a moment to listen to the enticing words of the world? 
No language is too strong in which to express our 
reprobation of the unfaithful wife, the betrayer of the 
trust and honor of her husband. She wrecks his 
hopes, disgraces his name, and destroys his home. 
She deserves the disgust and spurning of every lover 
of truth and virtue. What then is to be thought of 
those who, with the vows of fidelity and love to 
Christ upon them, deliberately seek the embraces of 
the world? If there is any obligation laid upon any 
one to be " holy and without blemish," surely it rests 
with infinite force upon the spouse of Christ, the 
church. If there is anything that will awaken His 
wrath, surely He will whet His glittering sword, and 
His hand will take hold on judgment, and He will 
render vengeance to those who, heedless of their 
plighted troth, trample His honor and His love under 
their feet. 

There is a blessedness beyond conception in this 
relation to Christ for all who, by righteousness of 
character and life, are faithful to the obligation it 
imposes. In Christ is all created and uncreated love- 
liness and excellence. " Fairer than children of 
men," " He is altogether lovely." He is the perfec- 
tion of beauty, of truth, and goodness. He is love 
itself. The love of a mother for her babe is but the 
shadow of His love for His people. It is as changeless 
and illimitable as His being, and " free and faithful, 



ig6 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



strong as death." And all the wealth of this love 
He lavishes upon the church. Nor does He with- 
hold from her the knowledge of His love. In words, 
uttered in tones sweeter than were ever struck from 
angelic harp; in acts of tenderness and watchful care; 
by tokens innumerable, which cannot be misunder- 
stood, does He assure her that His love is hers. In 
this assurance is " joy unspeakable and full of glory," 
Many of us can recall the time when this assurance 
was first whispered in our hearts. How sweet the 
peace, how deep the joy, how rich the blessedness of 
that hour. How worthless are all earthly pleasures 
when compared with the gladness that fills and thrills 
the soul assured of the love of Jesus. They, at their 
best, are but for a season, this is permanent; they 
leave an aching void in the soul, this fills all its powers 
and satisfies all its cravings. Happy beyond descrip- 
tion the bride of Christ in the love of her Lord. 

As He is everything to the church, so the church 
is everything to Him. She is His delight. He re- 
joices in her purity and beauty. Her security and 
welfare is the end of His toil and suffering, His in- 
tercession and mediatorial reign. The Father has 
given Him to be the head over all things to the 
church; " angels and authorities and powers being 
made subject to Him." These higher order of being 
are " all ministers of His that do His pleasure." They 
execute the behests of His love to the church, or 
of judgment on her foes. Her enemies are His 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. igy 

enemies. Whatever affects her interests or happiness 
is His care. Is she in the wilderness? In the pillar 
of cloud by day and of fire by night she has the token 
of His presence and the pledge of His protection. 
He gives her bread from heaven and water from the 
rock for her support and refreshment. Is she be- 
leaguered and threatened with destruction by her 
foes? In the silence of the night, His angel enters 
the camp of the alien host, and, lo ! 

At sunrise that host lay scattered and strewn 

Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown. 

He is her refuge and strength, her very present 
help in trouble. Therefore she need not fear anything 
that human or hellish hate can do. No weapon that 
is formed against her shall prosper. He shall reign 
until the last of her foes and His shall have been de- 
stroyed. Then He will " present her to Himself a 
glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any 
such thing." 

Then will come the day for which all other days 
were made, the bridal day of the Lamb. For this all 
the movements of providence in human history has 
been making preparation. To this, redemption in all 
the successive stages of its unfolding and application 
has been looking as its consummation. For this, her 
Lord has been, and is still preparing. He left her 
with the loving word, " I go to prepare a place for 
you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will 



ig8 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

come again and receive you to myself, that where 
I am there ye may be also." Through the ages she 
has been waiting and watching for the fulfillment 
of these precious words, sometimes in her weariness 
of toil and strife, saying, " My Lord delayeth His 
coming," and ofttimes crying, " Lord Jesus come 
quickly." The hour has come at last. " And I heard 
it as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as 
the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty 
thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God 
omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, 
and give honor to Him: for the marriage of the 
Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready." 
From all parts of His virtuous empire come the sons 
of immortality, the magnates of creation, all thrilling 
with tender, joyous expectation, and eager to join 
in the celebration of His triumph and her coronation. 
Heralded by the great archangel's trump, attended 
by myraids of shining ones, He comes for His bride. 
She is looking for Him. She is ready. The last 
earth stain has been washed away, and the last trace 
of sorrow and care has been smoothed from her brow. 
She is arrayed in white robes — bridal attire — robes 
that have been washed and made white in the blood of 
the Lamb. Her Lord, looking upon her, says, 
" Thou art all fair my love; there is no spot in thee." 
How ineffably tender His words and her responding 
look of love. The celestial glory itself is made more 
glorious by the light of her eyes, as' she looks her 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. igg 

love into His loving face. And now farewell forever 
to the scene of her sorrow and tears, of struggle and 
suffering. Farewell to death and " the ghastly ruins 
of the mouldering grave." 

Welcome, eternity, 
Welcome, O loved and blest, 
Welcome, sweet scenes of rest, 
Welcome, my Saviour's breast; 
Jesus is mine. 

Leaning on the arm of her Beloved, she passes 
through the gates of pearl. The eternal Father wel- 
comes her home. Amid songs and shouting such as 
heaven never heard before, she sits down with the 
Son in His throne, even as He has evercome is set 
down with His Father in His throne — the delight and 
glory of her Redeemer forever. 

In conclusion : If the successful prosecution of the 
church's mission to the world depends on her right- 
eousness; if her greatest beauty and highest value is 
in her righteousness; if dignity so illustrious and a 
destiny so glorious is to be the final reward of her 
righteousness; is there not abundant reason for the 
prophet's solicitude? And is there not reason why 
every lover of Zion should share in this solicitude? 
We cannot be too anxious, too zealous, or too active 
in our efforts to maintain and promote the purity of 
the church. We cannot too deeply deplore the pre- 
valence of the worldly spirit in her ranks; the tolera- 



200 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

tion of sin often in its most subtle and deadly forms; 
and her failure to appreciate and apprehend in its 
fulness and glory that for which she is apprehended 
of Christ Jesus. "Awake, awake; put on thy 
strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O 
Jerusalem, the holy city." Banish from thy hallowed 
pale the " uncircumcised and the unclean." These 
are spots that stain thy robes, blotches that deface 
thy beauty. 



WASHINGTON-STREET M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH, PETERSBURG, VA. 



The Abiding Graces. 



"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these 
is charity." — I Cor. xiii, 13. 

We have in this text a revelation of the eternal 
future. That which is in part has been done away. 
Our partial knowledge, which we have acquired by 
looking through a glass darkly, is superseded by 
direct unclouded vision. That which is perfect is 
come, and we see face to face, and know even as 
we are known. 

It is not, however, a revelation of the external 
glory of that future. There is nothing in the text 
or context concerning the " city which has founda- 
tions, whose maker and builder is God; " nothing of 
the throne of fire, the central seat of the divine 
majesty; nothing of the shining ranks of glorified in- 
telligences, of their associations and employments, 
of the crowns they wear, the palms they bear, and 
the songs they sing. 

Yet there are few passages that give us a clearer 
view of the inner life of the redeemed, or that show 
more conclusively the identity of that life with the 
spiritual life begun on earth; in each stage of being 
there is the same fundamental condition of life, faith; 
the same inner working and out-reaching of that life, 
13 [201] 



202 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

hope; and the same manifestation and fruitage of 
that life, love. The life therefore is one, only with this 
difference : in that higher state faith is absolute, hope 
is unclouded, and love is supreme. 

I. THE ETERNAL PERMANENCE OF THESE THREE 
GRACES. 

It is a mistake to suppose that faith and hope 
belong only to the present — a mistake by no means 
uncommon. There are many religious beliefs having 
other sources than the word of God, that are as 
deeply rooted in the popular mind as if they were 
written on the pages of Inspiration so plainly that 
there could be no mistake concerning them. 

Especially has poetry been a fruitful source of doc- 
trinal error. The heart is more impressible than the 
intellect; sentiment is stronger than reason. He had 
a correct and at the same time a profound view of 
human nature, who said, " Let me make the ballads 
of a people, and I care not who makes their laws." 
Give to any man the exclusive control of the hymn- 
ology of the church and Sunday school and he will 
do more to mould the religious opinions and life of 
the masses of the people than all our schools of the- 
ology. All our life, for example, we have been 
singing these words of Charles Wesley : 

" The atonement of thy blood apply, 
Till faith to sight improve, 
Till hope in full fruition die, 
And all my soul be love." 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 203 



And the no less beautifully expressed sentiment of 
Watts concerning love : 

" This is the grace must live and sing 
When faith and hope shall cease, 
Must sound from every joyful string 
Through the sweet groves of bliss." 

We have heard sermons on the passage before us 
which were but an elaboration of this poetic fancy; 
in which the superiority of love over faith and hope 
was argued chiefly on the ground that love is eternal 
while faith and hope are transitory. But it is not so 
written here. On the contrary the apostle plainly 
affirms their permanence. " And now abideth faith, 
hope, charity; " the one is as enduring as the other. 
All three alike survive the wreck of the body and 
spring eternal in the human spirit. 

God in His wisdom, conferred many splendid gifts 
on believers in the apostolic age; to one He gave 
the word of wisdom; to another the word of know- 
ledge; to another the gift of healing; to another the 
working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another 
the discerning of spirits; to another the gift of 
tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues. 
But these gifts were all provisional and transient. 
They were designed to enable the church to meet the 
emergencies of her infancy. In process of time they 
shall all fail, and along with these, all those appliances 
of church polity, doctrinal formulas, ordinances and 



20 /{. True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

means of grace the purpose of which is the unfolding 
and perfecting of the life of God in the soul : " And 
now," when these have done their work and have all 
passed away, " faith, hope, charity, these three " abide 
in perpetual permanence. 

We find in the nature of faith and hope, satisfactory 
proof of their existence in the eternal state. 

i. Faith is the strong conviction, the demonstra- 
tion to the soul of the existence of things unseen — a 
conviction so clear and strong that those things affect 
the mind, heart, life, as truly, and often more power- 
fully, than if they were present to the senses. In this 
life it embraces all things unseen and spiritual. The 
existence, attributes, and government of God, the 
being of angels and devils, the mediation of Christ, 
the Holy Ghost and His offices, the resurrection of 
the dead, the judgment of the last day, heaven, hell, 
immortality, are all known to us and become opera- 
tive on our character and life only by faith. When 
we are advanced to that higher state many of these 
things will cease to be objects of faith. They will 
have become objects of sight. Job says of God, 
" Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall 
behold;" John says of Christ, " When He shall ap- 
pear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as 
He is;" we shall enjoy the goodly fellowship of 
angels; salvation with eternal glory shall be a blessed 
fact; the songs of heaven will be heard; its worshiping, 
triumphant hosts will be seen; its mighty joys of 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 205 

which we have so often sung, and for which we have 
longed, will become a blissful experience. 

But can any one suppose that the soul will leap, 
as by a single bound, to the comprehension of all 
things now unseen. Transcendantly glorious will be 
the revelations immediately following its release from 
the limitations and infirmities of the body. Eye hath 
not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath it entered 
into the heart of man to conceive the things that will 
then greet its vision. But is there nothing beyond? 
Will the first sweep of its liberated powers compass 
all the length and breadth and height and depth of 
God's creative power, His providential administra- 
tion, and His redeeming love? Will it at once, or 
ever, settle down in the conviction that it sees all that 
is ever to be seen, knows all that can ever be known, 
experiences all that can ever be felt? The angelic 
powers, who have dwelt in the light of heaven 
through all the ages of their being, are still students 
of the manifold wisdom and goodness of God, and 
will be forever. And the glorified spirit, whatever 
its exaltation and the range and grasp of its powers, 
will carry with it through every stage of its being the 
conviction that there are still things unseen and un- 
known — an expanse of glory between itself and the 
Infinite the exploration of whose wonders will occupy 
all the ages of eternity. Such a conviction, belonging 
as it does to all intelligent finite beings on earth and in 
heaven, is of the essense of faith as defined by St. Paul. 



206 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

But faith, in a more popular sense, is a loving, trust- 
ful clinging of the soul to God in Christ — a resting on 
Christ, and in Christ, as the only foundation and 
pledge of its safety and happiness. Its language is : 
" For me to live in Christ," and its deepest yearning 
is to " know Him, and the power of His resurrection, 
and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made 
conformable to His death." Christ is the head : the 
church is the body : all believers are members of that 
body and united to Him, and from Him deriving all 
spiritual life, activity and enjoyment. Will all those 
blessed pulsations from the heart of Jesus that so in- 
vigorate and thrill the spirit now come to an end? Will 
the hand or the foot ever say to the head in the life to 
come, " I have no need of thee "? Will the soul, in 
its sweet consciousness of safety, and in the joy of 
its triumph, ever lose its sense of dependence? True 
the struggle is over; the danger is past; the victory 
is won; but, as it ungirds itself for the rest after the 
battle and lays down its armor, will it lay down also 
its trust in Jesus? On the contrary, its view of its 
dependence on Him will be clearer than ever before. 
He will be seen as the only bond of union and source 
of the safety and joy of the entire virtuous universe. 
" It pleased the Father by Him to reconcile all things 
to Himself . . . whether they be things on earth 
or things in heaven." Mediation is an essential 
principle of the divine administration. Jesus Christ 
is the embodiment of that principle. In His office 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 20J 

and work on earth and in heaven He gives it efficient 
and glorious expression. Heaven can no more do 
without Him than the solar system can do without 
the sun. Its unfallen ones in adoring gladness ac- 
knowledge their obligation and express their grati- 
tude in the songs they sing. John heard them, 
" Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the lamb that 
was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, 
and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing," 
and from the whole universe came the responsive 
shout, " Blessing, and honor, and power, and glory, 
be unto him that sitteth on the throne and unto the 
lamb forever." It is a mistake to suppose that media- 
tion will come to an end with the probation of the 
human race. As He is the mediator of grace now, 
so will He be the mediator of glory then. As in 
and through Him we are reconciled to God and saved 
from sin now, so in and through Him our reconcilia- 
tion will be perpetuated and confirmed, and our souls 
enriched with the ever accumulating treasures of the 
heavenly inheritance. And to cease to look to Him 
in loving, perfect trust then, will work the destruction 
of the soul's happiness no less surely then, than will 
unbelief condemn and destroy us now. 

As long, then, as there are things and truths un- 
seen, unknown, and as long as there is a sense of 
dependence and trust in God, and in Jesus Christ the 
one mediator, so long will faith abide. 

2. Hope is commonly, but correctly defined as the 



208 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

desire of some good accompanied with the expectation 
of obtaining it. Its objects, like those of faith, are 
things unseen. " Hope that is seen is not hope : for 
what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for. But if 
we hope for that we see not then do we with patience 
wait for it." We know what an important part this 
grace plays in the economy of salvation. The hope- 
less soul never comes to Christ — never receives for- 
giveness, never rejoices in His love. Only the 
hopeful, those who desire His mercy and patiently 
wait for it, are accepted and crowned with His 
blessing. At every step of the Christian life, this 
grace is of essential importance. It strengthens us 
in our weariness, cheers us in our discouragements, 
and comforts us in our sorrows. It inspires us with 
courage to brave the difficulties and endure the hard- 
ships of the way. Take away this hope and all Chris- 
tian activity and joy would come to an end, and the 
world would fall back into the wretchedness and 
gloom of utter despair. 

In the future life, perhaps, all that with our limited 
knowledge we now hope for will be at once realized. 
But when the apostle affirms that it hath not entered 
into the heart to conceive the things that God hath 
prepared for them that love Him, he more than in- 
timates that beyond all present thought there are 
treasures of good that will enkindle desire, and 
promises of good that will keep expectation alive 
forever. There will be constant outlookings and out- 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 209 

Teachings of the soul after deeper, higher, grander 
manifestations of the goodness and glory of God. 
To whatever heights we may ascend there will be 
others still towering above us and inviting us onward 
and upward forever. 

3. No question is raised concerning the perpetuity 
of the grace of love. All concede that there can be no 
spite or ill will, no envy or jealousy, no pride or arro- 
gance among those who inherit eternal life. Love 
supreme, perfect, all pervasive, warms, and fills, and 
thrills every glorified spirit. Its light is in every eye; 
its gladness sits on every brow; its language is on 
every tongue. It breathes in every song and shout 
of praise. He who sits on the throne is love. The 
glory that lights up the eternal citv, and, streaming 
out through its wide open gates, irradiates the re- 
motest parts of God's virtuous empire with heavenly 
splendor, is the glory of love. Whatever else may 
pass away, " love never faileth." 

These three graces, then, faith, hope, and love, are 
carried over into the future life; faith without doubts, 
hope without shadows, and love without alternations 
of coldness or wanings of its vestal fires. 

In these graces we discover both the possibility 
and the pledge of the soul's eternal progress. The 
soul is made for activity, growth, the constant un- 
folding of its powers, and their constant enrichment 
with the ever new and increasing treasures of truth 
and goodness. Heaven is pictured to our faith as a 



210 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

scene of ceaseless activity, not a condition of absolute 
quiescence, or a state in which its happy subjects 
will be forever exempt from all necessity of action. 
Action is the law of our being and the condition of 
our happiness. Condemn a man to absolute inac- 
tivity — cut him off from all prospect of ever seeing, 
hearing, knowing, enjoying anything more, and 
though in the midst of the most splendid surroundings 
he would be utterly wretched. We have no reason to 
believe that this law will be repealed or this condition 
annulled in the world to come. Heaven would cease 
to be heaven if the soul, endowed as it is with the 
grandest capabilities and finding its noblest joys in 
their exercise, must fold its wings like the caged eagle 
and while away the dreary monotony of its being 
in absolute quietude. Rather as that bird, when set 
at liberty, plumes its pinions, fixes its eye upon the 
sun and soars away in majestic circlings, rising higher 
and higher until lost to human gaze, so will the re- 
deemed spirit, freed from the limitations and encum- 
brances of its earthly state, rise upward and go 
forward in all wisdom and goodness forever. 

Faith, hope, love, are the elemental principles 
underlying all real progress in this life. The belief 
in something better, the hope of obtaining it and the 
love of its promised good nerve us to that effort 
needful to secure it. Take away this belief, hope, and 
love from man, and what motive is left to prompt 
his activity? The faithless, hopeless, loveless soul 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 21 1 

never goes forward, crosses no Red Seas, traverses no 
deserts, fights no battles, gains no victories, wins no 
Canaan. So in the life to come the soul's conviction 
of things still unseen and its hope of obtaining and 
enjoying them will inspire and energize it's powers 
for the loftiest efforts. Unfettered by the flesh and 
unclouded by sin, it shall ever be acquiring new 
views of the perfections of God, of the mysteries of 
providence and redemption, of the wonders of crea- 
tive power and goodness. Deprive it of either of 
these graces, and you cut it off from this prospect of 
advancement and glory. 

II. THE COMPARATIVE EXCELLENCE OF THESE GRACES. 

" The greatest of these is love." Preeminence is 
accorded to love. All are eternal; but love is chief est 
among the eternal. 

1. God is love. This is His nature and His name. 
Every divine attribute, in itself considered, and in all 
its manifestations, is a modification and expression 
of His love. What is thus true of His essential being 
is no less true of His administration both in provi- 
dence and grace. He cannot deny Himself, and there- 
fore cannot act, in any particular, at any moment, in 
any place, towards any being, inconsistently with love. 
His administration in its minutest particulars as well 
as in its sublime entirety has its origin and impulse 
and its limitations and issues in a love as boundless 
and eternal as His being. 



212 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

Moral excellence in the creature does not consist 
in what he has, or what he is capable of ; nor in what 
he believes, or what he hopes to attain; but in his 
likeness to God; in the conformity of his being and 
life to the will and image of God. Faith apprehends 
this divine excellence and in conjunction with hope 
uses the means revealed for its attainment; but love 
is the realization; it is the likeness of God attained. 
He that loveth is like God; he is united to Him; 
he is one with Him in mind, heart and will, and in 
all the movements of his sanctified activities. To be 
full of love is to be full of God; " He that dwelleth in 
love, dwelleth in God, and God in him." The grace 
that is most godlike is the greatest and most excellent 
that can adorn and glorify the character and life of the 
creature. 

2. Love is the principle of self-bestowment. In 
the work of redemption this truth finds its most com- 
plete exemplification. " God so loved the world, 
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever 
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlast- 
ing life. God commendeth His love toward us, in that, 
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Moved 
by nothing but love, He gave Himself for us; He 
gave Himself to reproach, suffering, sorrow, and 
death, to rescue us from the power and pollution of 
sin and the ruin of hell, and exalt us to the thrones 
of heaven. 

We find illustrations of this truth around us in com- 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 213 

mon life. We see it in the devotion of the wife to the 
husband; in the consecration of her life to his happi- 
ness; in her clinging to him, toiling for him, and 
weary watchings for him, even though he be bank- 
rupt in fortune and wrecked in character and for- 
saken by the world. We see it too in the fond 
mother's care, and toil, and sympathy, and utter 
self-surrender for her children. Their happiness is 
her happiness, their sorrow is her sorrow. So in 
spiritual life. Where the love of God reigns in the 
soul, there is devotion to the good and welfare of 
others. There is no seeking of one's own advantage 
to the detriment of others: no purpose to have and 
to hold anything good for self alone. It is the in- 
variable and universal characteristic of love that she 
" Seeketh not her own," but the good of others, and 
in others' good finds her deepest and most abiding 
satisfaction. 

3. Faith and hope acquire; love distributes. They 
plant the seed, watch over, protect, and cultivate the 
plant; but love is the blush and beauty of the flower 
and the fragrance that loads the air. They drive the 
machinery that forces the water into the reservoir; 
but love, by ten thousand little channels, carries the 
streams of life, health, and comfort to all the homes 
of the great city. The latter cannot live without the 
former; the former are useless without the latter. 
They are inseparably connected, and dependent one 
on the other. Yet it is better, greater, grander to give 
than to receive. 



2i/j. True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

Love not only bestows, and in bestowment con- 
tributes to the happiness of others, but at the same 
time multiplies its own joys. The parent is happy in 
the happiness of the child. The husband's joy 
doubles the joy of the wife. Love gives the one joint 
ownership in all the gladness of the other. Transfer 
the thought to the heavenly state. We shall be un- 
speakably happy in our personal salvation, in our 
nearness and likeness to Christ. The vision of His 
glory, His word and look of loving welcome, and the 
sweet consciousness of eternal safety will transport 
us with " wonder, love and praise." But this is not 
all of heaven. There is a great multitude which no 
one can number every one of whom is as happy as 
we are. And loving each other perfectly the blessed- 
ness of each one is the heritage of every other one. 
" He that overcometh shall inherit all things; " there 
is no division of the Father's estate among the myriads 
of His children. Each one inherits the whole of it. 
Love makes your glory mine, and my glory yours. 
Each one's joy is thus multiplied by all the joys of 
all the redeemed. Truly " it doth not yet appear what 
we shall be " or 

" What height of rapture we shall know- 
When round His throne we meet." 

The place of love in the divine nature and adminis- 
tration, its office and work as the principle of self- 
bestowment, and its multiplication of our joy by 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 215 

all the joys of all redeemed, are facts that entitle it to 
preeminence over all other graces. " And now 
abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest 
of these is love." 



The True Circumcision. 



" For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice 
in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." — Phil, iii, 3. 

From the call of Abraham until the death of Christ 
the Jews were God's peculiar people. They con- 
stituted His visible church. To them " pertained 
the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and 
the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the 
promises." All others were accounted " strangers 
and foreigners." 

" But when the fulness of time was come, God 
sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the 
law, to redeem them that were under the law, that 
we might receive the adoption of sons." That Son, 
who was the theme of their prophecies, and the object 
of their faith and hope, and the antitype of all their 
sacrificial offerings, has " blotted out the handwriting 
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary 
to us, and has taken it out of the way, nailing it to 
His cross." He has broken down the middle wall 
of partition between Jews and Gentiles, " having 
abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of 
commandments contained in ordinances." 

The question naturally arises, who now are the 
peculiar people of God? Those things in which 

[216] 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 21 7 

consisted the peculiarities of Judaism distinguishing 
it from all other systems and separating the Jews 
from all other peoples have passed away. Those 
promises of salvation which it appropriated to itself 
as its exclusive heritage have now been given to all 
men. The Messiah has come, and, by the sacrifice 
of Himself, has made atonement not for their sins 
only but also for the sins of the whole world. Who 
now are the circumcision? Who now consitute the 
true Israel, the true church of God? Where is it to 
be found? What are its essential characteristics? 

We have an answer to these inquiries in the text. 
" We are the circumcision which worship God in the 
Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confi- 
dence in the flesh." We have a parallel passage in the 
letter to the Romans : "He is not a Jew which is 
one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which iss 
outward in the flesh, but He is a Jew which is one in- 
wardly; and circumcision is that of the heart in the 
Spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of 
men but of God." These scriptures exclude the idea 
that anything of a mere external character is essential. 
Nowhere is the outward form of the church a subject 
of clear and distinct enactment. While the doctrines 
and morals of Christianity are succinctly defined, the 
servants of Christ have a large liberty with respect 
to forms of government and the adoption of measures 
for the advancement of the ends of the gospel. But 
these forms and measures do not enter into the 
14 



218 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

essence of the church itself. They are only the scaf- 
folding around the building. They are but temporary 
in their nature and purpose. When the capstone 
shall, at last, be brought on with shoutings of " Grace, 
grace unto it," they shall disappear and be forgotten 
forever. We shall then see with a clearness and im- 
pressiveness that may not be possible now that the 
true church of God is comprised only of those who 
" worship Him in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ 
Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." 

I. Its first mark is the spirituality of its worship. 
" The hour cometh, and now is, when the true 
worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in 
truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. 
For God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him, must 
worship Him in spirit and in truth." Hitherto He 
had been worshiped in the splendid ceremonial of 
the Jewish ritual. But every part of that ceremonial 
was typical — a shadow of good things to come. Now 
these types are all fulfilled, and we have the sub- 
stance, these good things, in the gospel. There is 
no longer need of such ceremonial, for we now have 
access by faith in the presence of God, and, as spiritual 
beings, are privileged to hold direct intercourse 
with Him. 

God is a Spirit as man is a spirit, but with this 
difference: God is infinite, while man is finite; God is 
above all, and in all, and through all; while man is 
subject to the limitations and oppressions of matter, 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 219 

and the disadvantages of multiform imperfections. 
To worship Him in spirit is to worship Him in the 
exercise of those powers that make us spiritual beings 
and in which is found our likeness to God. Our 
intellect contemplates and meditates on His adorable 
perfections; our judgment reverently approves all 
His methods and means of providence and grace; our 
will bows submissively to His decisions; our con- 
science, abhorring evil in all its forms, responds 
promptly and perfectly to every demand of His in- 
finite rectitude, while our hearts glow with ardent 
love to Him, and our spirits exult in His matchless 
grace. To a soul thus in harmony with Him, and 
renewed after His image, what need can there be for 
a gorgeous ritual? A child of God, a partaker of 
the divine nature, having in him, though in an in- 
finitely inferior degree, the moral perfections of the 
infinite Spirit, he feels that forms and ceremonies 
are but so many hinderances in the way of his com- 
munion with his Father. He has no need of words, 
nor of any external symbols in which to express the 
yearning, the adoration, the trust, the love, the joy 
of his spirit in communion with God. When under 
the influence of the Holy Spirit, we can thus rise 
superior to everything that is merely formal and 
outward, and in our spirit adore, and praise, and trust, 
and rejoice in God, we reach the highest perfection of 
spiritual worship attainable in the flesh. 

The truest worship of the soul cannot be expressed 



220 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



either by symbol or word. The soul's deepest feelings 
and longings and sweetest joys cannot be framed into 
human speech. Inspired by the Eternal Spirit they 
can be understood only by Him, and meet their re- 
sponse only in Him. 

When, therefore, we begin to use words, we begin 
to recede from pure spirituality. As we multiply 
words the distance increases. When we resort to 
acts in addition to words, such as bowings, and cross- 
ings, and sprinklings, and the burning of incense, and 
the ringing of bells, we are at a still greater remove 
from spirituality. When to this we add beads and 
paintings and sculpture — when the soul has to in- 
terpose all these things between itself and God and 
can approach Him only through these media, it is 
at the utmost boundary of spiritual worship, if indeed 
spiritual worship be possible at all under such con- 
ditions. 

A worship purely spiritual is possible only to the 
individual. Hence the Christian's sweetest moments 
are spent alone with Jesus. The collective body of 
Christians assembled for worship must of necessity 
have some form. That body which has the least 
and simplest form, provided that in its use it gives 
true expression to the essential elements of worship, 
makes the nearest approach to pure spirituality, be- 
cause it has fewer intervening media, it comes more 
directly to God. 

There are forms of worship that in their literary 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 221 

aspects are faultless. They are thoroughly scriptural 
in every sentiment, and highly artistic and beautiful 
in arrangement and execution. The man of refined 
taste cannot fail to admire them. Against them we 
have not a word or thought of protest. But alas 
for the weakness of our nature; we are prone to mis- 
take intellectual and aesthetic gratification for spiri- 
tual elevation and refreshment — prone to substitute 
the outward form for the inward reality, the letter 
for the spirit, the shadow for the substance. Not 
through fault in the form, but through weakness in 
ourselves the use of the form seems naturally to tend 
to make us formal rather than spiritual worshipers. 
The Great Teacher possibly had this weakness of our 
nature in mind when he proclaimed to the Samaritan 
woman, as one of the highest privileges of the gospel 
dispensation, that men should be delivered from the 
yoke of a ritualistic worship, and without form or 
ceremony, anywhere, at any time, under any con- 
ditions, hold communion with the Father of spirits. 
The woman, in common with her people, believed 
that worship to be acceptable must be offered at a 
particular place and in a particular way; Jesus teaches 
her that the worship of the soul, is not conditioned 
on time, or place, or any formalities of action or 
of speech. In harmony with this, Peter describes 
the true church as " a chosen generation, an holy 
nation, a peculiar people," " a royal priesthood to 
offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus 
Christ." 



222 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

IL The second mark of the true church is its joy in 
Christ Jesus. " The work of righteousness is peace, 
and the effect thereof quietness and assurance for- 
ever." " The fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace." 
" Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though 
now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with 
joy unspeakable and full of glory." When the soul 
is awakened by the Spirit of God, and discovers its 
pollution, guilt, and peril, it is filled with dismay and 
dread. When that Spirit reveals to it the tenderness 
and love of God, and the baseness of its own ingrati- 
tude, it is overwhelmed with the bitterness of peni- 
tential grief. When it finds its tears, its prayers, and 
its strugglings all unavailing, the gloominess of de- 
spair begins to settle down upon it. But when out 
of the depths it cries unto God in Christ, in humble 
trust in His mercy and grace, the tumult subsides 
into a blessed calm; a " peace that passeth all under- 
standing " takes possession of the spirit. " Being 
justified by faith, we have peace with God through 
our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we have access 
unto this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope 
of the glory of God." Along with forgiveness comes 
the regeneration of the soul, adoption into the family 
of God, and the witness of the Spirit. The soul is 
conscious of this glorious work. Conversion carries 
with it its own evidence. It is a translation from dark- 
ness to light and from the power of Satan unto God." 
It is the opening of the prison doors, breaking the 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



223 



chains of the captive and bidding him go in peace. 
It is a new creation : " Old things have passed away, 
behold all things have become new." The guilt that 
oppressed the soul, the anguish that rent the heart in 
pieces, the fear that hath torment, all are gone. The 
man needs no one to tell him that his iniquity is for- 
given, his transgression covered. He has the witness 
in himself. And as the smile of God lights up the soul, 
and the love of Jesus warms and thrills it with a new 
life, and the witnessing Spirit assures it, and hope 
of glory inspires it, he cannot but rejoice in the Lord 
and joy in the God of his salvation. The language, if 
not of his lips, yet of the inmost depths of his soul is : 
" O Lord, I will praise thee : though Thou was angry 
with me, Thine anger is turned away and Thou com- 
fortest me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust 
and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength 
and my song: He also is become my salvation." 
What more natural and becoming than that the soul 
thus delivered, and transformed, and made an heir 
of eternal life, should rejoice in Christ Jesus? 

Some men, it is true, look with disapproval and 
suspicion on all outward demonstrations of Christian 
joy. They can organize magnificent processions and 
with banners and music, song and shout and weary 
march, prolong far into the night their celebration 
of a political victory. But if a soul, consciously " re- 
deemed from the power of sin," speaks forth in glad 
acclaim the praises of the great Deliverer, they call 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



it " animal excitement," " enthusiasm," " fanaticism." 
One says, " I cannot worship when there is any exhi- 
bition of that sort." Another says, " it destroys all 
my enjoyment of the service ; " and another, "I do not 
believe in any such thing; I have been in the church 
these twenty-five years, and I never felt the slightest 
disposition to rejoice." What a blessing to all such 
gainsayers that they did not live in apostolic days ! 
What would they have done had they been present on 
that memorable day when " Suddenly there came a 
sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and 
it filled all the house where the disciples were sit- 
ting . . . And they were all filled with the Holy 
Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as 
the Spirit gave them utterance." How out of place 
would they have been in the infant church, when " all 
that believed did eat their meat with gladness, and 
singleness of heart, praising God and having favor 
with all the people." What will they do when the 
shouts of that great multitude which no man can 
number, shall break upon their ears ! 

But despite the cavil, we insist that the assurance 
of sins forgiven through Jesus Christ is the privilege 
of all who believe in Him, and that that assurance 
brings a heavenly joy into the soul. That joy seeks 
and will find expression. Paul and Silas, still bloody 
from recent scourging, and with their feet in the 
stocks in the inner prison, broke the silence of the 
midnight hour with their songs of gladness. Now as 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 225 

then the heart, full of the love of Jesus and the joy 
of His salvation, is always singing. Cast down, suf- 
fering, breaking it may be, but still it sings and re- 
joices. Oh, it is a joy which no prison walls, or 
sword, or stake, or scaffold, or " great fight of afflic- 
tions " can repress or silence; a joy which in its fulness 
and richness cannot be pressed into the cold form of 
human speech; a joy unutterable and full of glory; a 
joy which, when death shall have broken down the 
earthly house of this tabernacle, shall burst into a 
rapturous shout of everlasting praise. 

The church that preaches this privilege of believers 
the most plainly and presses it most urgently; the 
church whose members seek this experience of grace 
the most earnestly and attain it the most generally; 
the church that rejoices most in Jesus Christ, has the 
most solid claim to the glory of being the true church 
of God. May this glory be ours ! The joy of the 
Lord has been our strength in the past. Sad day 
for any church, will it be when its ministry and mem- 
bership undervalue, or are strangers to this ex- 
perience of Christian joy. Sad clay for any man or 
woman in the church when they are indifferent to 
their personal attainment of this experience. Sam- 
son, shorn of his locks, was not an easier prey to 
the Philistines than is the church or the individual 
without the joy of salvation, to the seductions of the 
world, the flesh, and the devil. We know that the 
alleluias of our fathers often gave them the victory. 



226 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



Let us know this joy in Christ and victory equally 
signal and splendid will crown our labors and our 
lives. 

III. A third mark of the true church is a complete 
distrust of everything merely external in so far as 
any saving benefit to be derived from it is concerned. 
" And have no confidence in the flesh." The apostle 
explains what he means by " the flesh " in the con- 
text : " If any other man thinketh that he hath 
whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more : circum- 
cised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe 
of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching 
the law a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the 
church, touching the righteousness which is in the 
law blameless." These things had been his boast, 
and the boast of his ancestors for centuries. " But," 
said he, " what things were gain to me " — those 
things which were my pride and glory and in which 
I trusted — " those I counted loss for Christ. Yea 
doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the ex- 
cellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my lord." 
He is Messiah the Prince, Prophet, Priest and King — 
the true sacrifice, the antitype of all sacrifices, who, 
by the offering of Himself, has made atonement for 
the sins of the world. He is the life, the truth, the 
way, by whom alone we can have access to God. 
His is the only name given under heaven among 
men whereby we can be saved — the only foundation 
on which we can build, with security, the house of 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



our faith and hope. He alone is worthy of the 
soul's confidence. He alone can meet its needs. 
Forms and ceremonies, provided they be simple, may 
be helpful to some. Outward privileges of birth 
and education, and wealth, and religious associations, 
and church fellowship, and church promotion, may be 
desirable and profitable. Certain sacramental rites 
are obligatory, because enjoined by the Master; and 
their due observance is essential to spiritual growth. 
But to have confidence in any of these things as 
meritorious is to repeat the folly of the Pharisee and 
build our hopes on the shifting sands. There is but 
one Shibboleth known in the kingdom of God, one 
pass-word to its spiritual immunities on earth and 
its glories in heaven. Search its records. Study its 
history. What is that one, all important prerequisite? 
Not natural descent from Abraham; not scrupulous 
observance of the formalities of religion; not the im- 
position of apostolic hands; not baptism by whatever 
mode administered; not eating and drinking in the 
Master's presence; not membership in his visible 
church; not zeal for a particular creed or denomina- 
tion; not working, and sacrificing, and suffering and 
dying for the right; but simply and only trust in 
Jesus Christ; sitting at his feet and learning of him 
as our Prophet, confiding in him as our atoning and 
interceding high-priest, and gladly submitting to 
Him as our King. Confidence in the flesh, or in the 
external and formal is nothing; confidence in him is 



228 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



everything in this great enterprise of salvation. No 
creed of which he is not the soul, no worship which 
is not inspired by his Spirit, no preaching of which 
he is not the theme is worth a bauble as a means of 
salvation. Away then with all confidence in the flesh, 
all trust in the outward, the seen, the temporal. " Let 
not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the 
mighty man glory in his might; let not the rich man 
glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory" 
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. By that cross 
we are crucified unto the world, and lifted above its 
tempests into eternal sunshine. 

" Oh! the sweet wonders of that cross, 

Where God, the Saviour, loved and died! 
Her noblest life my spirit draws, 

From His dear wounds and bleeding side. 

" I would forever speak His name 

In sounds to mortal ears unknown; 
With angels join to praise the Lamb, 
And worship at His Father's throne." 

Each of these three characteristics of the true 
church — the spirituality of its worship, its joy in 
Christ, and its distrust of the flesh — teaches the same 
lesson. They pour their concentrated light upon 
one great truth, and present it in such clearness and 
impressiveness that we cannot mistake its import. 
It was the deadly error of some in the olden time that 
they had " a form of godliness, but denied the power 
thereof ; " and of others the faithful and true Witness 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 229 

said, " Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art 
dead." The religion of the gospel is not a form; 
it is not a name. The Jewish ceremonial, though 
divinely instituted and administered by men divinely 
appointed, was not religion. Of some of those most 
scrupulous in its observance, the Master declared 
that outwardly they appeared righteous unto men, 
but that within they were full of hypocricy and in- 
iquity. Name or reputation for religion is very dif- 
ferent from religion itself. An individual or a church 
may have such a name and yet be as destitute of re- 
ligion as the dead carcass is of the breath of life. Re- 
ligion is a life — spiritual life — the life of God in the 
soul. It begins in the quickening of the soul dead in 
trespasses and sins into newness of life by the power 
of the Holy Ghost. It is sustained by constant 
feeding by faith on Jesus Christ. Said He, " I am 
the living bread which came down from heaven : if 
any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever." 
There is no substitute for this bread. Other things 
may feed the intellect, or gratify the taste, or excite 
the emotions; this alone nourishes the soul, and de- 
velopes the spiritual life to maturity. It is useless to 
inquire, " How can these things be? " The answer 
is the same now as of old : " The wind bloweth where 
it listeth, and thou nearest the sound thereof, but 
canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; 
so is every one that is born of the Spirit." As religion 
is a life in Christ, so is it a fellowship, a communion, 



2 jo True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



a oneness of the soul with God. He is the blessed 
fountain of spiritual life; in Jesus Christ it is treasured 
up in all its richness and fulness, and from him com- 
municated by the Spirit to the believing soul. " I 
am the vine, ye are the branches." The life in the 
branch is identical with the life in the vine. The life 
in the believer is identical with the life in Christ. This 
is religion in its essential principle — the Christ-life 
in the soul. Anything short of this, however ortho- 
dox, however beautiful and impressive, will fail us 
in the last hour, and before the judgment throne. 
Christ in you is the only solid ground for the hope 
of glory. Do we know this life? Are we dwelling 
in him, and he in us? What say our souls to these 
things? 



The Majesty of Christ, the Antidote 
of Fear. 



"And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right 
hand upon me, saying unto me, ' Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he 
that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore, Amen; And have 
the keys of hell and of death.' " — Rev. i, 17, 18. 

John was on the isle of Patmos, an exile for " the 
word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." 
On a certain Lord's day, in a peculiar sense, he " was 
in the Spirit : " in a spiritual state differing, perhaps, 
both in degree and in kind, from the ordinary frame 
of faithful men; a state of rapture or ecstasy in which 
he was transported out of himself and brought into 
direct contact with the sublime realities of the spiri- 
tual world. The special purpose of God in bringing 
his servant into this condition of extraordinary spiri- 
tual elevation was to prepare him to receive and 
record those wonderful revelations, which were about 
to be made of the divine plans and movements in the 
administration of the affairs of the church, and of 
the world. 

While in this state, he heard behind him " a great 
voice, as of a trumpet," saying, " I am Alpha and 
Omega, the first and the last," and bidding him write 
in a book what he saw, and send it to the seven 

[231] 



2 3 2 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



churches. Turning to see whence came the voice, 
he " saw seven golden candlesticks, and in the midst 
of the candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man, 
clothed with a garment clown to the foot, and girt 
about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and 
his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and 
his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet were like 
unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and 
his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in 
his right hand seven stars; and out of his mouth went 
a sharp two-edged sword ; and his countenance was as 
the sun shineth in his strength." 

What a change had taken place in the Son of Man 
since John last saw him ! He had known Him inti- 
mately on earth. He had been admitted to the inner- 
most circle of his confidence and love. He had seen 
him in his humiliation, sorrow, suffering and death; 
but also in his exultation and joy, in the splendor of 
his transfiguration, and in the triumph of his resur- 
rection and ascension. But so marvelous had been 
the change, that John, while recognizing Him as the 
beloved Master, whom he had known on earth, could 
not endure this vision of his majesty. Overpowered 
by amazement and terror he " fell at his feet as dead/'' 
Gently laying his right hand upon his prostrate dis- 
ciple, with a tenderness that, no doubt, waked up 
precious memories of the loving fellowships of the 
past, he said, " Fear not; I am the first and the last; 
I am he that liveth and was dead; and, behold I am 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



2 33 



alive forevermore, Amen, and have the keys of hell 
and of death." 

It was no real danger that John feared. It was the 
personal glory of his own Redeemer, the vision of 
his matchless majesty, that filled him with alarm — 
the very thing that of all others was his surest defence, 
and, when rightly interpreted, his great joy. This is 
the lesson of the text for God's servants in all ages: 
The majesty of Christ is the true antidote for our fears, 
and the sure ground of our comfort and confidence. 
His majesty is seen : 

I. In the divine dignity of His nature. " I am the 
first and the last." This expression is used three 
times by Isaiah, and three times by John. By Isaiah 
it is used in application to the Lord Jehovah; by John 
in application to Jesus Christ. The Lord Jehovah 
of Isaiah is the Jesus Christ of John. The expression 
denotes absolute Godhead. From everlasting to 
everlasting, Jesus Christ is God. All creation comes 
forth from him, and exists by the word of his power 
and for his glory; for " all things were made by him 
and for him; and he is before all things and by him all 
things consist." The author of all being, material, 
sentient, and moral, he is the author of all the laws of 
being. All the forces of the universe are in his hands; 
for " He is head of all things." Those mighty convul- 
sions of nature and those dire disasters of empires 
that cause the hearts of men to fail and their cheeks 

to grow pale with dismay, are but the utterances of 
15 



234- True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

his voice and the tread of his burning feet. But 
he is " head over all things to the church." His divine 
power, wisdom and goodness are wielding all their 
resources in the interest of the church — for its se- 
curity, its discipline, and its purification — that he may 
present it unto himself at last " a glorious church, 
not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but 
that it should be holy and without blemish." 

The idea of his essential divinity is conveyed also 
in the expression, " I am he that liveth," or more 
correctly, "and the living one." This clause is di- 
rectly connected with that which precedes; " I am 
the first and the last, and the living one." It does 
not mean simply that he was alive, but that he had 
life in himself. John said of him, " in him was life," 
and he said of himself, " I am the life," and, " as 
the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to 
the Son to have life in Himself," that is independ- 
ently, absolutely. The fulness of life, all life, is in 
him and from him; and all moral beings have their 
true life, and attain their true end only in him. For 
no being less than the eternal God can such a pre- 
rogative be claimed. 

Thus is laid broadly and deeply, on the rock of the 
absolute deity of Christ, the foundation of our faith 
and hope. From this rock flows an exhaustless 
stream of comfort and holy joy. Were He less than 
divine, we might well tremble in anticipation of the 
utter wreck of our spiritual fortunes.' But with " the 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



first and the last, and the living one " as our refuge, 
we need not fear " though the earth be removed, 
and the mountains be cast into the midst of the 
sea." 

II. In his mediatorial work. " And I became 
dead, and, behold, I am alive forevermore." As 
" the Living One," before his incarnation, he was, 
in an important sense, a Meditator. It was through 
him that God the Father manifested himself. We 
have no evidence that he ever revealed himself in 
any creative, providential, or gracious act, except 
through the eternal Son, or that he will ever do so 
in the ages to come. On the other hand, we have 
scriptural proof that he first movement of his infinite 
energies was made through the Son, that in and 
through him he first gave formal expression to his 
power, wisdom and goodness in creation, and that by 
him he keeps in operation all the wondrous ma- 
chinery of the universe. Mediation, therefore, seems 
to have entered into the divine purpose and plan from 
the beginning. It is the law of the divine self-mani- 
festation. It will continue after redemption shall 
have become a finished chapter in the history of the 
divine administration. As glorified God-man, the 
the Son will forever be the Revealer of the glory, 
the Executor of the will, the Dispenser of the bene- 
factions of the Father to all finite intelligences. But 
in the case of man as fallen, issues hitherto unknown 
in the divine government are involved. Sin has en- 



2j6 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

tered not merely as a disturbing element, but as an 
active revolutionary and destructive force. It has 
subverted the normal order of man's being; it has 
disordered and dislocated his powers; it has jostled 
him out of his place in God's system. It has put man 
in a position of open hostility towards God. It has 
opened between him and his Maker a gulf as deep as 
hell and as black as outer darkness. On yonder side 
is God, who is of too pure eyes to behold iniquity and 
cannot look upon sin. On this side is man, who is 
of too impure eyes to behold good and cannot look 
upon holiness. Hating purity and loving sin, his 
chosen pathway is leading him at every step into 
deeper darkness, into fouler pollutions, more aggra- 
vated guilt, and more dreadful perils. 

The earthly father detests the vice that is destroying 
his son; yet he loves the son and would make any 
sacrifice to restore him to the path of virtue. So the 
Heavenly Father, while hating sin, loves his sinning 
creature, and would rescue him from death and re- 
store him to purity and happiness. But how can he 
reach him? How can he make known to him the 
love and yearning of his heart? How can he from 
the infinite height of his glory enter into communion 
with the fallen and recover their love and allegiance? 

The eternal word becomes the messenger of his 
grace — not now, however, as the eternal word, but 
as the man Christ Jesus. " The w T ord was made 
flesh;" " God was manifest in the flesh." He did 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 237 

not, could not, divest himself of any attribute of di- 
vinity, nor did he superadd in the constitution of his 
person, any quality that did not pertain to humanity 
as originally constituted. All that belongs to the 
divine nature becomes one with all that belongs to 
human nature, " so that two whole and perfect na- 
tures were joined together in one person, never to 
be divided, whereof is one Christ, very God and very 
man." Veiling the glory of the Divine in the human, 
as a man he comes to men. He enters into their 
homes, sits with them at their hearthstones, reclines 
with them at their tables, walks with them on the high- 
way, by the seashore, in the fields, always and every- 
where telling them of his Father and their Father, 
of the love that yearns over them, of the arms that 
are open to receive them, and of the fellowship divine 
that awaits them. 

It was a strange story. No wonder that men were 
astonished at his doctrine, and questioned his au- 
thority. To all such questioning his reply was: " If 
I do not the works of my Father believe me not, 
but if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the 
works, that ye may know and believe that the Father 
is in me, and I in him." By a character that was spot- 
less and a life that was blameless and by works which 
no man could do " except God be with him," he 
demonstrated that he came from the Father as a 
bearer of a message of love with offers and conditions 
and peace. 



2j8 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

But all that was not enough. Clear as was the 
revelation of the divine character and good will to 
men in his life and doctrine, it did not meet all the 
necessities of the case. If his mediation stopped at 
this point it would prove a disastrous failure. In its 
revelation of God, it has revealed also the complete- 
ness and the terribleness of man's ruin, and awaking 
in him the desire of better things, if it provides no 
means for their attainment, it only intensifies his 
despair. Hence, while Christ said his mission was to 
" bear witness to the truth," he declared, also, the 
necessity of his suffering and death. The forgiveness 
of sin and the regeneration of the soul by the power 
of the Holy Ghost are essential to restored friendship 
between God and man; and it is only in his " blood 
that we have redemption, even the forgiveness of 
sins, according to the riches of his grace." To shed 
his blood, to die, not as a martyr, not as an example 
of heroic endurance, but as a vicarious sacrifice for 
the sins of the world, in vindication of the divine 
character and government, and to make it possible 
for God to be just and yet justify and save the sinner, 
was the prime object of his mission to earth. Not 
his life, so beautiful in its simplicity and purity, so 
glorious in its devotion to the highest and holiest 
interests of humanity, but his death of shame, and 
agony, and desolation, is the central fact of revelation. 
Before the foundations of the world were laid he was 
looking forward to it. From the summit of his glory, 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 239 

he recalls it : " I am he that was dead." In all the 
ages of human history that went before, the index 
finger of inspiration was pointing forward to the 
cross. In all the ages that have followed, apostles, 
prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, have been 
pointing the world back to it. The merit, the re- 
deeming power of that death can be measured only 
by the infinite dignity of his person. 

" Lord, I believe were sinners more 
Than sands upon the ocean shore, 
Thou hast for all a ransom paid, 
For all a full atonement made." 

But this does not complete the work of amazing- 
love. From the cross he goes to the grave. To the 
imperfect faith of the disciples, all seemed to be lost 
when he died. " We trusted," said they, " that it 
had been he that should redeem Israel." But their 
trust seemed to be disappointed, and their hopes 
doomed to extinction. And truly all is lost if he 
rise not. But God hath raised him up, " having 
loosed the pains of death; because it was not possible 
that he should be holden of it." And " he was seen 
of Cephas, then of the twelve; after that he was seen 
of above five hundred brethren at once. After that 
he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And 
last of all he was seen of Paul also, as of one born 
out of due time." And after having been seen of them 
forty days, " he led them out as far as Bethany, and 
he lifted up his hands and blessed them. And it came 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



to pass, while he blessed them., he was parted from 
them., and carried up into heaven." Having been 
" delivered for our offenses/'' and " raised again for 
our justification," he has gone into heaven, there " to 
appear in the presence of God for us." For us from 
first to last; incarnate, suffering, dying, rising, as- 
cending, interceding, all for us ! 

:: O Love, thou bottomless abyss! 

My sins are swallowed up in thee; 
Covered is my unrighteousness, 

Xor spot of guilt remains on me, 
While Jesus' blood, through earth and skies, 
Mercy, free, boundless mercy cries." 

And now he says, " Behold, I am alive for evermore, 
Amen." Before his incarnation, he was the Living 
One, but as absolute God; again he is the Living 
One, but as God-man. He has taken our humanity 
up into the glory he had with the Father before the 
world was; and in his dual nature, not only lives, but 
is the fountain of all the spiritual life of our race. 
Life goes out from him, through the gospel, to all 
the earth. To feel its wondrous thrill, one has only 
to believe the gospel. Simple condition! Glorious 
result ! And as he is alive forevermore, the stream of 
life shall flow on forever. It shall find its way into 
every wilderness and solitary place; '' and the desert 
shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall 
blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and 
singing." The purpose of his grace thus accom- 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 24.1 

plished, he will take his redeemed up into his glory, 
and in him and with him they, too, shall have life for- 
evermore. 

III. In his dominion over death and the grave. 
" And have the key of hell and of death." The key, 
among the ancients, was a symbol of power and 
authority. " The key of the house of David will I lay 
upon Eliakim's shoulder; so he shall open, and none 
shall shut : and he shall shut, and none shall open." 
He shall be grand master of the king's household, 
chancellor of the exchequer, and prime minister of 
state, second in authority only to the king himself. 
Christ uses the same figure on the occasion of Peter's 
memorable confession : " I will give unto thee the 
keys of the kingdom of heaven; " that is, " Thou shall 
have the authority to open the door of faith to the 
world; thou shall be the first to preach the gospel 
to both Jews and Gentiles." This Peter did on the 
day of Pentecost, and afterwards in the house of Cor- 
nelius. It is written of Christ, he " hath the key of 
David." David was supreme in the kingdom of 
Israel, so Christ is supreme in the kingdom of 
heaven. " The sure mercies of David," all the 
treasures of grace and of glory are at his disposal. 
So when he says, " I have the keys of hell and of 
death," he asserts his authority over the spirit world, 
and his power to abolish death, and " destroy him that 
hath the power of death, that is the devil." 

Hell, in this place, does not denote the place of 



2^.2 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

the punishment of the finally impenitent, but that in- 
visible state into which the good and bad alike enter 
on the death of the body; or it may mean simply the 
grave. It is conceived of as a prison in which all the 
departed are confined. It is a place of utter darkness 
and silence. Its walls and towers are built of dark- 
ness. Its doors and their bars and bolts are all made 
of darkness. Its halls, its beds, its cells, its chains are 
of darkness. It is a darkness so dense that no light 
of human reason can penetrate it, or discover any of 
the secrets which it hides. It is as silent as it is dark. 
No voice of mirth or of woe, no clank of chain or 
note of joy, not the faintest whisper or lightest foot- 
fall breaks for an instant its dreadful silence. The 
thunder of battle or the wild shriek and crash of 
the tempest around its walls, or the convulsive groans 
of the earth in her mighty throes, cannot wake the 
feeblest echo. Our dear ones die; they go into the 
darkness and silence. We call, but they answer not; 
we weep and lament, but no voice of sympathy comes 
back to soothe our sorrow and heal our hearts. They 
may be happy or they may be miserable, they tell 
us not. They may remember and love us still; but 
they give us no token. We, too, shall be brought 
to death and to this " house appointed for all the 
living." The blackness shall enshroud us and the 
seal of silence be put on our lips. But with this 
precious word in our hands, and in our hearts, we 
go into the darkness with sure and certain hope. " I 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 24.3 

have the keys," says our glorious Redeemer. When 
he came forth from the grave he wrested the keys 
from the prince of darkness, and ever since has worn 
them at his girdle in token of his triumph, and of the 
coming deliverance of his imprisoned loved ones. 
And when the fulness of time shall come, he " shall 
be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels;" 
and approaching the old prison-house and thrusting 
the key into its socket, with one movement of his 
hand the bolts shall fly back and the doors open. 
With one flash of his glory the darkness shall be 
scattered, and at one word of command the mighty 
host of the dead shall come forth. The sceptre of " the 
grim monster " shall drop from his hand, his throne 
shall crumble into ruin beneath him, and " death shall 
be swallowed up in victory." The last enemy de- 
stroyed, the conflict of the ages is ended, and the re- 
deemed of the Lord shall celebrate the triumph in 
" the song of Moses, and of the Lamb." 

In conclusion, what wealth of comfort there is in 
these views of our Redeemer and King! While in 
reverent awe we hide our faces from the vision of his 
majesty, in that majesty we find the pledge of our 
security and glory. Is he divine? Then all that 
divinity implies is on our side. Is his atonement 
unlimited and complete? Then is there deliverance 
for us from all the guilt, and power, and pollution of 
sin, renewal after his own image, adoption into his 
family and all the high privileges and hopes of sons 



24.4. True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



and daughters of the Lord Almighty. Is he the con- 
queror of death? He conquered for us, and because 
he lives we shall live also. And if he, with the riches 
of his divine power, and wisdom, and goodness, and 
the fulness of his redeeming grace, be for us, who can 
be against us? The consciousness of imperfection ot 
character and obliquities of life may oppress us; the 
hardness of life's discipline, and our fierce conflict 
with corruption and temptation may fill us with 
anxious fears; the mystery of his dispensations to 
nations and men, the withering of our sweetest hopes, 
the desolation of our homes, and the breaking of our 
hearts, may often fill us with dismay. But listen ! 

" Fear not; I am with thee; O be not dismayed! 
I am thy God, and will still give thee aid; 
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, 
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand." 



The Sabbath Day. 



" Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and 
do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it 
thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-ser- 
vant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy 
gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in 
them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath 
day, and hallowed it." — Exod. xx, 9-1 1. 

We desire in this discourse to emphasize the doc- 
trine that the Sabbath is a divine ordinance, that it 
is of universal and perpetual obligation, and that duty 
towards God requires that it be sacredly observed as 
a day of rest and worship. 

While the importance of the doctrine in itself and 
in its relations and results is a sufficient apology for 
its discussion at any time, there is reason for giving 
it special prominence at the present day. The 
popular drift of opinion and usage is away from the 
scriptural Sabbath, and toward a mere holiday Sun- 
day. In some cities in our country the old religious 
rest-day of the fathers and of the Bible is almost un- 
known. Sunday has become a grand gala day — a day 
devoted to amusements, social festivities, and sensual 
pleasures. It is preeminently man's day, and only 
incidentally the Lord's. The influence of these great 
centers radiates in all directions, and is felt in the re- 
motest sections of the land. The necessary conse- 

[245] 



2^6 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



quence is a growing disregard of the sanctities of 
public and private virtue, and the imperiling of in- 
terests dear to every Christian, philanthropist, and 
patriot. It is both the right and duty of the pulpit 
and the religious press to arrest, if possible, this tide 
of Sabbath desecration and vindicate the sacredness 
of the day. 

In order to a well-directed and effective effort to 
remedy an evil, its cause must be ascertained, well 
understood, and kept prominently in view. What, 
then, is the cause of the evil referred to? Is it that 
" the former days were better than these? " Never 
was the gospel more widely and constantly preached 
or more generally accepted than now; never were 
Christian activities more numerous, more munificent, 
or more efficient ; never was Christian principle more 
potential or individual Christan character held in 
higher esteem. Bad as the times are, they have been 
far worse; wicked as the people are, they were never 
better. They were never more ready to respond to 
what thy recognize as moral and religious obligation. 
But the trouble is that the public mind is, to a large 
extent, in an unsettled condition, in a state of un- 
certainty with respect to the divine authority of the 
Sabbath; and a still greater trouble is that many 
have settled down in the belief that it rests on no 
higher authority than ecclesiastical legislation. This 
belief denies to the Sabbath that which gives it its 
special sanctity and takes from its profanation the 



Trite Heroism and Other Sermons. 



24.7 



odium of moral obliquity. Many thus having no 
clearly defined opinion on the subject, and many 
decisively rejecting the idea that the Sabbath is of 
God, it is not surprising that there should be great 
looseness in its observance. 

This state of things is not a product of chance; nor 
is it a necessary outgrowth of the conditions and 
demands of our fast, feverish modern life; nor is it all 
to be traced to that popular resolvent of so many 
knotty problems, human depravity. It is but the 
natural fruitage of a diligent sowing, both ancient 
and modern; and a sowing, in many instances, by 
hands consecrated to God and otherwise doing his 
work. Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, and other 
fathers, hold that the Sabbath was " a temporary in- 
stitution given to the Jews only, as circumcision and 
other typical rites of the law." Some of the Re- 
formers of the sixteenth century held a similar view. 
So did Jeremy Taylor, Dr. Paley, Robertson, and 
others of the church of England. The Romish 
church, in theory and practice, degrades the Sabbath 
to a level with Good Friday, Easter, Ascension-day, 
and other festivals for which the only authority is its 
decrees. The entire school of rationalistic theologians 
and writers hold and teach that the obligation to ob- 
serve it has no other ground than that of expediency. 
When to these facts are added the prevailing senti- 
ment and custom in Continental Europe so freely 
imported into this country, and the frequent open dis- 



24.8 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

regard of the day by men in high official station, and 
the extreme carelessness of many professing godli- 
ness, that many should have unsettled and loose views 
of its sacredness is no matter of wonder. It would 
be far more wonderful if, despite such potent in- 
fluences, the public faith in its sanctity and respect 
for its obligations were unimpaired. 

To substitute prevalent erroneous beliefs and un- 
settled opinions by an intelligent conviction that the 
Sabbatic law is of divine authority, and is as binding 
as any other statute of the moral code, is the work 
before the advocates of scriptural Sabbath observance. 
And it is a work that must be well done, and done 
quickly, if they would avert the evils of the holiday 
Sunday of infidel and papal Europe. If it be done at 
all, it must be by an appeal directly to the written 
word. The argument from the physical demand for 
the Sabbath, from its benefits, and from historic pre- 
cedent is of great weight; but, whatever its force, it 
cannot of itself produce such a positive, earnest con- 
viction as will bind the conscience and control the life. 
Nothing less than the authority of the Sacred Scrip- 
tures will do this. Does the word afford sufficient 
material for such conviction? Are its revelations of 
such distinctness and emphasis as to leave the candid 
inquirer no reasonable ground for uncertainty as to 
the will of God in the matter? What is its testimony? 

Its first deliverance on the subject is in these words : 
" And on the seventh day God ended his work which 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 249 

he had made; and he rested on the seyenth day from 
all his work which he had made. And God blessed 
the seventh day, and sanctified it : because that in it 
he had rested from all his work which God created 
and made." The six days of creation may have been 
geological periods of indefinite length, or they may 
have been days of twenty-four hours each; it matters 
not. The important fact here distinctly revealed is 
that at the creation, and in connection with it, God 
instituted the Sabbath. First, he rested, in some 
sense ceased from his creative work, and by his own 
sublime example illustrated the ordinance which his 
authority had established. Then he blessed the clay. 
When God blesses he imparts some good. The day 
itself could not be the recipient of good. He blesses 
it by making it a channel of good to man. This he 
does by sanctifying it, setting it apart from all other 
days, consecrating it to spiritual and holy uses and 
ends. Kennicott says : " This blessing and sanctifying 
the seventh day contained an order from God to 
Adam and his posterity to observe a weekly Sabbath, 
or one day in seven, after a holy manner." In support 
of this proposition it is maintained that the original 
may be rendered, " and God caused (man) to bless 
and worship on the seventh day, and ordered (him) 
to sanctify it." It is plain that the whole transaction 
referred to man. Its intent was to indicate to him 
that after six days of secular employment the seventh 
should be a day of sacred rest and grateful commemo- 
16 



2jO True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



ration of his Creator's goodness. Had no explicit 
precept been given, surely the divine act was a suf- 
ficient disclosure of the divine will. Xor can it be 
supposed that the obligation, grounded on both the 
act and the word of God. was to terminate with 
Adam. God dealt with him as an individual, but also 
as the head of the race,, and in this procedure ordains 
that through all his generations this proportion of 
labor and rest shall be observed. The Sabbatic law., 
therefore, is original and constitutional in God's 
administration of the affairs of the world. Xo pre- 
cept, no ordinance antedates it. 

In confirmation of the doctrine of this primitive 
institution of the Sabbath and its probable observance 
by Adam and his descendants, both before and after 
the flood, there was ever afterward a sevenfold divi- 
sion of days, or a reckoning of time by weeks. The 
revolution of the earth on its axis marks off the day 
and night; the revolution of the moon around the 
earth, and of the earth around the sun, measures the 
month and the year. But there are no movements 
of nature that divide time into periods of seven days. 
And yet such a division obtained well-nigh univer- 
sally. How is it to be accounted for? Tayler Lewis 
says that no reason for this sevenfold division of days 
" seems more easy and natural than that which refers 
it to the traditionary remembrance of creation and 
its seventh day of rest." Keil and Delitzsch teach 
that the week was established in Eden. William 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 251 

Smith says of the week : " Its antiquity is so great, 
its observance so wide-spread, and it occupies so 
important a place in sacred things, that its origin 
must probably be thrown back as far as the creation 
of man. The week and the Sabbath are thus as old 
as man himself." How profound must have been the 
impression made on the mind of Adam, how deep his 
sense of obligation, and how scrupulous must have 
been the observance of the Sabbath in his family and 
among his immediate descendants thus to have made 
it a mark and measure of days forever! How soon 
would the memory of it have perished in the universal 
degeneracy of the race had he and his been indifferent 
to its sanctity or forgetful of its origin and purpose ! 

When the Lord was about to give the manna to 
the Israelites, he directed that the people should 
gather and prepare for use on the sixth day twice 
as much as on any other. Wherefore? Because the 
seventh clay " is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto 
the Lord; " " in it there shall be none." And when 
some, disregarding their instructions, went out to 
gather it on the seventh day, the Lord rebuked them, 
saying : " How long refuse ye to keep my command- 
ments and my laws? " The people had not yet come 
to Sinai. The decalogue had not yet been given. 
They were therefore acquainted with the law of the 
Sabbath, and recognized its authority and their corre- 
sponding obligation before it was written on the table 
of stone. Nor is there in the record any intimation 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



that it was now published for the first time. On the 
contrary, it is spoken of as something that " the Lord 
hath said " — that is, at some past time — in which it 
is not difficult to discover a reference to the original 
institution when God, resting from his work, blessed 
and sanctified the seventh day. 

If now a formal written code is ever given, it may 
reasonably be expected that this primitive ordinance 
will be embodied in it. Accordingly, when at Mount 
Sinai God gathers up and codifies all preceding legis- 
lation, and, adding such new precepts as the then 
existing or future conditions of human life might 
require, gave to man a moral code adapted to all ages, 
he embodied this Sabbatic law in its very heart. He 
gave it a place of the first dignity; he put it in the 
first table, thus making it, according to the great 
Teacher, a constitutent element of the first and greatest 
commandment of all. Obedience to this law is the 
privilege and orompting of love to him. Without 
such obedience supreme love is impossible. And it 
is worthy of notice that, in writing it down along 
with the law itself, he includes a distinct reference to 
a previous knowledge of it : " Remember the Sabbath 
day." Remembrance is retrospection and recollec- 
tion — looking back and recalling facts of which we 
have been cognizant, or ideas which we are conscious 
that we have had before. If it was published first at 
Sinai, as some maintain, its form implies a contradic- 
tion. But there is no contradiction. It was unquestion- 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 253 



ably known at the giving of the manna; and the reason 
assigned for the command is precisely that which was 
given in Eden : God's rest after his six days' work, 
and his blessing and sanctifying the day. Says Fair- 
bairn : " It seems indeed as if God in the appointment 
of this law had taken special precautions against the 
attempts which he foresaw would be made to get rid 
of the institution, and that on this account he laid its 
foundations firm in the original frame work and con- 
stitution of nature." And when he comes formally to 
enact and publish it at Sinai, " he rises far beyond 
any consideration of a special kind, or any passing 
events of history. He ascends to primeval time, and, 
standing as on the platform of the newly created 
world, dates from thence the commencement and the 
ordination of a perpetually recurring day of rest." 
The institution of Sinai is thus identified with that 
of Eden. 

In this formal reenactment of the law, the manner 
of its observance was indicated : " In it thou shalt not 
do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, 
thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, 
nor thy stranger that is within thy gates." There 
shall be a complete suspension of all ordinary work. 
The wheels of busy secular activities must all stand 
still. Not only parents, children, servants, guests, 
but such domestic animals as are usually employed 
in labor must have a respite from toil of one day in 
seven. A writer in the Baptist Review, Vol., II, p. 585, 



254. True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

says : " There is reason to believe that if Jehovah were 
instituting a positive statute for the observance of his 
own clay in these times and in the circumstances of 
modern outward life, he would not repeat the Mosaic 
code without wide divergence to suit these changed 
conditions." Indeed! If he could only have fore- 
seen the demands of the civil and military service of 
the United States and " of our modern complex 
commercial and industrial life," and the universal 
greed and grasping, grinding selfishness of the age, 
he would have made important concessions ! He 
would have toned down the decalogue generally to 
suit the times ! But as these things were foreseen, 
and as he never repealed or amended the statute, 
men must submit with the best grace possible to its 
Procrustean exaction ! As it now stands, and will 
stand forever, the only work which it allows is that of 
necessity or of charity or of piety. It is lawful to do 
good on the Sabbath day. 

But while requiring cessation from worldly work, 
the law does not license idleness or secular amuse- 
ments or worldly visiting, rides and excursions for 
pleasure, or merely intellectual recreation on the 
Sabbath. It is " holy unto the Lord." It is to be a 
day of " holy convocation." It must be spent in the 
worship of God in the public assembly, in the house- 
hold, and in the closet; in religious mediation, in 
searching the Scriptures, in such reading and con- 
versation and such exercises as tend to the knowledge 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 255 

and love of God, and in doing good to the souls and 
bodies of men as we have opportunity, especially to 
those who are of the household of faith. In a word, 
the day shall be devoted to the interests of the soul. 
With the earnestness with which men pursue their 
secular ends during the six days they shall seek their 
spiritual profit on the seventh. And while the claims 
of the soul are to receive due attention during the six 
days, the claims of the world are to be carefully ex- 
cluded on the seventh. Religion must be carried into 
worldly business, but worldly business must not be 
brought into religion. Business must be sanctified, 
but religion must not be secularized. Thus the day is 
to be kept holy by rest from ordinary work and by its 
consecration to holy uses. 

But it is said that this law was ceremonial and 
Jewish, and that with the passing away of the Mosaic 
economy its obligation ceased. There were some 
special observances prescribed for the day. It was 
also declared to be a sign between God and Israel, 
and a memorial of their deliverance from Egypt. 
These things were ceremonial and Jewish. But they 
were additions, and not essential elements of the 
institution. The law had been written and published 
before such observances were enjoined, and before 
the day received its special designation as a sign and 
memorial. It was already in the decalogue, side by 
side with precepts neither ceremonial nor Jewish, 
and with them forming a complete moral code for the 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



race. As well may it be said that the command, 
" thou shalt have no other gods before me," is cere- 
monial and Jewish, and that, the Mosaic dispensation 
having passed away, it is now admissible for us to 
have " lords many and gods many." The two 
commands, all the commands of the decalogue, stand 
or fall together. 

When the decalogue is characterized as a moral 
code it is meant that all its precepts have their reason 
in the nature of things. They do not rest simply on 
governmental authority. The duties they enjoin are 
inherently right, and would have been right and 
obligatory had no formal command ever enjoined 
them. Such laws are in their very nature permanent. 
The principles underlying them are immutable and 
eternal. The duties they require are duties forever. 
No authority can abrogate such laws or absolve moral 
beings from such duties. That the decalogue as a 
whole is moral will not be seriously questioned. That 
the law of the Sabbath is not an exception is evi- 
denced by the fact that it has all the requisite elements 
of moral law. It has its reason in the nature of things. 
The rest for which it provides is required by the con- 
stitution of both man and beast. The worship which 
it prescribes, and for which it gives opportunity, is 
in harmony with the original and intuitive prompt- 
ings of the soul. In the Old Testament it is plainly 
recognized as moral. It is placed above sacrifices and 
ceremonies. In one passage it is ranked with the 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 257 

first commandment, and in another with the first, 
second and fifth. Its pollution was accepted as proof 
of moral turpitude. Its observance was not only 
an aid to virtue, but essential to true holiness. Nor 
did Christ ever give the remotest intimation that he 
looked upon it as unworthy of its place in the 
decalogue. Personally he kept the Sabbath holy. 
He explained and enforced its observance and puri- 
fied it from the abuses and perversions of the scribes 
and Pharisees. All that he did and said implied that 
he held it no less sacred than any other precept of 
the law. His apostles followed in his steps. They did 
not except it when they pressed the obligation of 
the moral law. They did not violate it by diverting 
themselves in fishing or engaging in any secular 
employment. They threw off none of its restraints 
and neglected none of its duties. Master and disciple 
alike, by precept and example, magnified it as " the 
holy of the Lord, honorable." They plainly regarded 
it in the truest sense a moral law, and therefore of 
perpetual obligation. 

Moral law is of universal as well as permanent 
obligation. That which is right in itself is right every- 
where and always. It is independent of contingen- 
cies. It knows nothing of expediency. In the nature 
of the case, then, the law of the Sabbath is world-wide 
in its reach. This was implied when God ordained 
it in Eden, giving it not to a tribe or nation which as 
yet had no existence, but to Adam, as the father of 



258 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

all the race. Christ emphasized the same truth when 
he affirmed that " the Sabbath was made for man; " 
not for man as a Jew or a Gentile, but for man as man, 
for our common humanity. And if it could be proved 
that it was first given at Sinai, that fact could not be 
accepted as evidence that it was intended only for 
the Jews. They were chosen as the repository of 
God's will, but not as its sole beneficiaries. While 
enjoying its benefits they were bound, according to 
the teachings of Christ and his apostles, to give it to 
the world. 

There are some expressions in Paul's writings 
that have been supposed to favor the doctrine of the 
abolition of the Sabbath under the new dispensation. 
Without citing these expressions, it is enough to say 
that while writing them Paul was a scrupulous ob- 
server of the Sabbath, and observed it until his death. 
To say that he abolished it in theory, but perpetuated 
it in practice, presents him in an attitude not alto- 
gether becoming an apostle. The advocates of the 
doctrine in question ought not to put him in such 
a position, especially as he cannot now " rise and 
explain." Let them seek an interpretation in har- 
mony with the facts of his life — an interpretation not 
difficult for those to find who have no anti-Sabbath 
theory to maintain. And not Paul and his colaborers 
in the apostolic office only, but the great body of the 
early converts, probably all of them, continued for 
a time the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath. 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 259 



The ceremonies of the Jewish ritual were quickly 
renounced. The seventh day continued to be held 
sacred until its observance was finally merged into 
that of the first day of the week. It is evident, there- 
fore, that they did not regard it as belonging simply 
to the ritual of Judaism. They looked upon it as a 
constituent part of the moral code, and therefore as 
permanent in its nature and of universal force, need, 
and benefit. 

Immediately after the resurrection of Christ the 
infant church, under the leadership of the apostles, 
began the religious observance of the first day of the 
week — the day on which the Lord arose from the 
dead, having finished the glorious work of human re- 
demption. It was certainly natural that a day sig- 
nalized by an event so majestic should receive special 
tokens of honor. It was the brightest and gladdest 
of all days to the apostles. It was the dawning of 
a new era in the history of the race. It was the day 
on which " the promise of the Father " was fulfilled — 
on which, in answer to the intercessions of the Son, 
the Holy Ghost decended upon them, endued them 
with power, and equipped them for the conquest of 
the world. They soon began to call it " the Lord's- 
day," and by praise and prayer and partaking of the 
holy supper and exhortation, to sanctify it to his glory 
and their mutual edification. In this way all the es- 
sential elements of the primitive seventh-day Sabbath 
were gradually introduced into the first day. The 



260 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



change of the day was not made abruptly or by any 
formal apostolic decree. In fact, several centuries 
had passed before the observance of the seventh day 
was entirely discontinued among Christians. They 
had a traditional respect for the old day. but a love 
for the new, and therefore observed both. But with 
the ripening of religious knowledge and experience, 
and the acquiring of strength and stability under the 
gospel, the seventh day observance slowly passed 
into that of the Lord's-day. Thus the first day of the 
week became the Christian Sabbath. While there 
is no law in the Xew Testament ordaining this 
change, and while it was not entirely consummated 
in the life-time of the apostles, we cannot doubt that 
it had their inspired sanction. 

The change of the day did not affect the institution 
itself. There is no evidence that such change had 
not been made before, or that the Jewish Sabbath had 
descended in unaltered succession from the original 
seventh day in Eden. It is very possible that in the 
general corruption of the race in the ages immediately 
preceding and following the flood, or in the bondage 
and barbarism of the chosen race in Egypt, the 
primeval reckoning had been lost. Time was divided 
into weeks. But whether, in ages remote from Eden, 
man's week coincided with God's creation week may 
be seriously questioned. The Jewish week began 
with the day on which the manna was first gathered. 
The seventh day afterward, whether the first or the 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 261 

seventh or any other day of the old week, was to be 
their Sabbath. The essence of the matter did not 
consist in the observance of this or that precise day, 
but of one day in seven — six days of labor to be 
followed by one of religious rest. And that seventh 
day in the wilderness was as truly " the rest of the 
holy Sabbath unto the Lord " as if it had been demon- 
strably a seventh day from creation. There was a 
wondrous scaffolding of splendid ceremony about 
God's spiritual house in the olden time. The scaffold- 
ing has all been removed. Has its removal changed 
the character of the building? How is it possible 
for the addition or the removal of the merely outward 
and formal to change or modify the essential? If all 
the essential elements of the Sabbath institution are 
found in one day of the seven, and in no other, is 
not that day, to all intents and purposes, the Sabbath? 
Does the fact of its being this or that particular day 
have anything to do with its Sabbatic character? 
The early church, led by the apostles, brought the 
rest and worship of the old Sabbath into the first day 
of the week. The church universal for eighteen 
centuries has sanctioned the change and observed the 
day. It is unchanged, save in the circumstances of 
time or day. It is therefore veritably " the Sabbath 
of the Lord," and is as binding in its force and far 
richer in its privilege and blessing than the Sabbath 
of the old dispensation. 

Thus the law of the Sabbath, first promulgated in 



262 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

Eden, then solemnly reenacted at Sinai, and now 
perpetuated with a deeper spiritual significance under 
the gospel, runs through the whole of the divine 
administration on earth. It is interwoven with the 
entire system of revelation. It enters into its history, 
its symbolism, its legislation, its promises. It underlies 
and permeates and puts its hallowed impress on each 
successive dispensation. At every step in the unfolding 
of God's good-will to men it is brought into more im- 
pressive prominence and revealed more clearly in 
its spiritual import and its wealth of blessing. It is 
so identified with and so conspicuous in all the 
evolutions and issues of God's economy that it can no 
more be eliminated from it than any other principle 
embodied in it. Its abrogation would revolutionize 
God's moral system so far as it relates to this world. 
A bible, a church, a ministry, a saint without a Sab- 
bath, without a memorial of God's goodness in crea- 
tion or his grace in redemption, without a holy rest 
from earthly toils and the communion of saints in 
sweet fellowship with God, without a type and fore- 
taste of the rest that remaineth for the people of 
God ! It could not be without a radical readjustment 
of the divine plan and methods. With the Sabbath, 
the kingdom of God on earth, as now constituted, 
must stand or fall. With it are linked indissolubly 
the spiritual interests of the race. Its profanation 
with inexorable certainty brings spiritual dearth and 
death. Its observance in the spirit of the gospel with 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 263 

equal certainty brings spiritual health and life. The 
history of nations, of particular communities, of in- 
dividuals, gives to these statements all the authority 
of facts, and thus vindicates the doctrine that there is 
a law of the Sabbath and that it is a fundamental and 
essential principle of the divine economy. That 
economy in its present form could not exist, nor could 
man's highest interests, either for time or eternity, 
be secured without it. 

If the position presented be correct, can there be 
any question as to human duty with respect to the 
Sabbath? What though it be a positive institution 
for which men can see no reason except the sov- 
ereign pleasure of the Lawgiver? Or what though 
they see in the nature of things a necessity for it, and 
in that necessity recognize a sufficient reason for its 
appointment? In neither case is the matter of duty 
in any way affected. God's right to command is 
original, immutable, absolute. He has commanded, 
and does command: " Remember the Sabbath day 
to keep it holy." Our duty is complete submission 
to his authority. There is no room for quibbling or 
compromise or evasion. As well may we quibble 
about any other command of the decalogue. Com 
ceived by the same wisdom, written by the same 
hand, delivered under the same circumstances of 
awful majesty, unrepealed by any subsequent revela- 
tion, and unrepealable because inherently moral, 
escape from the duty of obedience to this command 



264. True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

is as impossible as from that of any other precept 
of the law. Nor is its requirement met by a half-day 
observance any more than half-obedience to the pre- 
cepts, " Thou shalt not steal," and " Thou shalt not 
commit adultery," would meet the requirements of 
the laws of honesty and chastity. A day, a whole day, 
one-seventh of our time consecrated to holy uses and 
ends, and nothing less than this, will fill up the 
measure of duty. And if now to his authority as 
sovereign we add his goodness, his countless bene- 
factions, and his matchless grace in Jesus Christ, is 
not the duty overwhelmingly urgent? And if to these 
high motives we add the physical benefits and 
material advantages to ourselves, our moral improve- 
ment and spiritual elevation, the welfare of our house- 
holds, the stability and security of society, and the 
enlargement of the church, the regeneration of the 
race, and the universal reign of righteousness — all 
of which are directly connected with and dependent 
on this law — surely it becomes us not as a duty only, 
but also as a precious privilege, to " Remember the 
Sabbath day to keep it holy." 




CENTENARY M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH, NORFOLK, VA. 



The Manifestation of the Sons 
of God. 



"For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation 
of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, 
but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope; because the creature 
itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious 
liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth, 
and travaileth in pain together until now: and not only they, but ourselves also, 
which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within our- 
selves, waiting for the adoption, to-wit, the redemption of our body."— Rom. 
viii, 19-23. 

" The world knoweth not " the sons of God. It 
knew not their Lord. Men saw him, and knew his 
name, parentage, occupation, and chosen com- 
panions; they heard his words of wisdom, witnessed 
his mighty works, and looked on when, amid such 
dreadful tokens of majesty, he died on the cross: 
but who among them, save, perhaps, the few who 
were spiritually enlightened, imagined for a moment 
that he was " God over all, blessed forever "? So 
his servants are under a disguise; their citizenship 
is in heaven; their life is hid with Christ in God; men 
see not its source, and know not the depth and might 
of its inspiration, the exhilaration of its hopes, and 
the freshness and wealth of its joy. To a thoughtful 
unbeliever there are few greater mysteries than the 
devout man of God. 

17 [265] 



266 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



But there is one fact concerning God's people 
which the world well understands, and which it some- 
times interprets to their disparagement. Their con- 
dition in this life is one of suffering. In the order 
of God the way to the promised land is through the 
wilderness; humiliation goes before exhaltation, and 
great tribulation before the white robes, and palms, 
and harps of heaven. The world judges oftenest 
according to the outward appearance, and therefore 
is quick to accept this fact as evidence that, so far 
from being accepted and beloved of God, they are 
objects of his special disapprobation. So Job's 
friends seem to have thought when the hand of 
affliction was laid upon him so heavily; and so 
thought David's enemies when they tauntingly asked, 
"Where is thy God?" 

But God's thoughts are not as their thoughts. He 
is as independent of their wisdom in administering 
the affairs of his gracious kingdom as he was when 
he laid the foundations of the earth; his methods 
are as absolutely his own now as then, and no less 
mysterious. Yet he is pleased to interpret for us 
his way towards his sons in subjecting them to 
suffering. It is a token of his love : for " whom the 
Lord loveth he chasteneth; " it is an evidence of their 
sonship; "if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and 
joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with 
him; " it is a pledge of their future glory: for " if we 
be dead with him, we shall also live with him; if we 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 26 7 

suffer, we shall also reign with him." And however 
bitter it may be, and however much the flesh may 
writhe and cry out under it, it is utterly insignifi- 
cant — " not worthy to be compared with the glory 
that shall be revealed in us." 

In the passage before us, the apostle illustrates 
this last thought. His design is to exalt our concep- 
tions of the future glory of the sons of God, and 
thereby not only reconcile us to our present con- 
dition, but inspire us with courage for our work, and 
a holy joy in the midst of our tribulations. 

We have the sure word of prophecy and promise 
that, at an hour appointed in the councils of God, 
Christ will be revealed in his glory. His last utter- 
ance to the church is, " Behold I come quickly." 
When he came as Mediator, his humanity veiled 
his glory; when he comes as judge his glory will 
permeate and transfigure his humanity, and enshrine 
it in a splendor transcending that of the sun in its 
strength. A single star and a chorus of angels 
heralded his birth in Bethlehem; but at the second 
and final revelation of his glory, when he comes in 
the clouds with all his holy angels, there shall be 
signs and scenes in the worlds above and on the 
earth beneath of whose terrific grandeur no imagina- 
tion can conceive. Horror-stricken by the divine 
majesty of his presence, those who love not his 
appearing " shall cry to the rocks and mountains to 
fall on them and hide them from the face of him that 



268 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the 
Lamb." 

His coming will be the signal for the manifestation 
of the sons of God. " When Christ, who is our life, 
shall appear, Ave shall be like him, for we shall see 
him as he is." The disguise under which the true 
character, the dignity and excellence of his servants 
have been hidden shall be removed, and it will not 
only appear that they are his sons, but the divine 
image which they bore in this life, which the world 
saw not, shall be revealed in its beauty — its glory, 
like that of the divinity in the humanity on the mount 
of Transfiguration, shining through, transforming and 
glorifying their bodies. And thus inwardly and out- 
wardly glorified, in the completeness of their being, 
in their likeness and nearness to Christ, in the honor 
with which they are crowned, in the perfection of 
their happiness, they shall be manifested to the uni- 
verse as the sons of God. This event will constitute 
a grand epoch in the history of the kingdom of God. 
It will be the final unfolding and consummation of 
his purpose with respect to man as fallen, and the 
earth and inferior orders of existence, and the ad- 
vancement of all sinless beings to a higher plane and 
a nobler sphere of activity and enjoyment. The 
divine plans, and all providential and gracious ap- 
pliances, look to this end; and in it their deepest 
mysteries will find their solution. The earth and all 
that therein is, from man — its lord— clown through 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 26g 

all the ranks of animate and inanimate being, will 
be profoundly affected by it, and in some way con- 
tribute to and participate in its glory. Already there 
is in the lower world an instinctive, and in man an 
intelligent, patient waiting and looking for it. " For 
the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for 
the manifestation of the sons of God — and not only 
they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of 
the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, 
waiting for the adoption, to-wit, the redemption of 
our body." 

I. THE INTEREST OF THE CREATURE IN THIS EVENT. 

The word here rendered creature signifies in the 
orginal either the act of creating, or that which is 
created. The sense of the passage requires that we 
give it the latter meaning : that which God has created 
waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 
The expression the whole creation, taken independently 
of the context, may denote God's entire rational and 
irrational creation. But there are some things af- 
firmed of the creature that forbid an interpretation 
so comprehensive. For example : " The creature 
was made subject to vanity:" this cannot be affirmed 
of the unfallen intelligences above us. " The creature 
shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption 
into the glorious liberty of the children of God " — 
this cannot be affirmed of those who are now impeni- 
tent and ungodly — anything else would be more 



2jo True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



welcome to them. Unfallen and fallen angels,, there- 
fore, and those of our race who have died or may 
hereafter die in impenitence, and all who are now 
impenitent, are to be excluded from the meaning of 
creature and whole creation: nor can we include in it 
the sons of God; for after describing the waiting and 
groaning of the creature, the apostle adds : " And 
not only they, but we ourselves groan within our- 
selves." We are, therefore, apparently shut up to the 
conclusion that by these terms we are to understand 
inanimate and animate nature, as distinguished from 
angels and men. Accepting this as the apostle's 
meaning, we gather here some interesting facts con- 
cerning the creature. 

1. It is subject to vanity. Vanity is used in the 
text interchangeably with corruption. The idea which 
it conveys ordinarily is very nearly associated with that 
of wickedness. But it also denotes frailty or corrupti- 
bility. In this place we understand it as including 
the idea of frailty, degradation, and misery: all in a 
word, that distinguishes the present from that original 
condition of the creature in which it corresponded 
with Adam in his state of innocence and his life of 
fellowship with God. 

2. Its subjection to vanity was not voluntary: it 
was imposed upon it by God — " not willingly, but 
by reason of him who hath subjected the same. " 
There was no inherent tendency in the creature to- 
wards this condition. It was not created in this state 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 2ji 

in anticipation of subsequent events. But it " was 
made subject to vanity," in consequence of sin — as 
one of its judicial, penal results. " Cursed is the 
ground for thy sake: in sorrow shalt thou eat of it 
all the days of thy life : thorns also and thistles shall 
it bring forth to thee : and thou shalt eat the herb of 
the field." As before the fall the creature was in 
harmony with Adam's condition of purity and happi- 
ness, so after that catastrophe God harmonized it 
with his condition of guilt and wretchedness. The 
earth and all that is in it was made for man and given 
to him as his inheritance. When he went down in 
the ruin of sin, his inheritance went down with him. 
It had been a singular incongruity to have left a 
sinful, corrupt rebel against God in possession of an 
inheritance still blooming in the beauty and glory 
of Eden. When, therefore, he is accursed of God 
and driven from his presence, the solid earth on 
which he walked, and every beast and bird and fish 
and creeping thing, and every tree and plant and 
flower is accursed with him — the curse involving 
degradation, and, to all sentient beings, suffering and 
wretchedness according to their capacity. And from 
that hour until now they have " travailed together 
in pain." 

As this was not its original state, so it is not to 
be its final condition. It was subjected in hope — that 
is, in hope of deliverance. And this hope is here 
analyzed and presented in its constituent elements. 



2J2 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

i. We have "the earnest expectation of the 
creature." The word denotes a looking forward with 
uplifted head and out-stretched neck. Figuratively 
speaking, there is in the creature a sense of its own 
degradation. It feels the fearful pressure and bitter- 
ness of the curse; but feels also the power of the death 
of Christ, and anticipates through him redemption 
and restoration. Nor do we know that this is a mere 
figure, in so far as the brute creation is concerned. 
It were idle to say that the brutes around us have no 
instinctive sense of suffering or of satisfaction. And 
it were equally idle, with our present limited knowl- 
edge, to affirm that they have no instinctive antici- 
pation of a coming deliverance. The statue of 
Memnon, when touched by the rays of the morning 
sun, became vocal and charmed the listener with the 
sweetest notes of the harp. So the rays of the Sun of 
Righteousness may awaken a response to their holy 
influences in the creature, and even unconsciously 
it may sound in deep accord with the grand design 
and scope of Christ's redemptive work. It is an easy 
and convenient way of disposing of many of the 
marvels of scripture simply to say that the language 
is figurative. But until we understand more perfectly 
the nature and powers of the lower orders of crea- 
tion — until we understand more perfectly their rela- 
tion to man as unfallen, and their relation to the work 
of Christ, we do well to hesitate before we conclude 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 273 

that the earnest expectation of the creature is not a 
reality. 

2. We have the strong desire of the creature. This 
desire expresses itself in groans. " The whole crea- 
tion groaneth together." All of its parts unite and 
sympathize in its sense of present misery, and its 
desire of future good. The innate tendency of every 
creature is to attain its perfection — that which shall 
constitute the completeness and crown of its being. 
Nothing that God made was originally doomed to 
deterioration. It was the disturbing and disintegrat- 
ing element of sin that gave man and the creature 
the downward impulse. But this destructive force 
is met by the mightier power of redemption and is 
itself destroyed. With the introduction of this new 
power into the economy of the world, man, and the 
creature with him, receives an impulse not only back 
to that which he had lost, but to a perfection higher 
and better than could ever have been attained without 
redemption. And now the creature, as if conscious 
of this glorious truth, with believing humanity 
anxiously longs for that higher good — for that per- 
fection which shall be brought in at the revelation 
of Jesus Christ. It yearns with the profound pathos of 
an intense home-sickness for the glories of a new and 
grander paradise. 

This hope of the creature shall eventually be 
realized. It shall " be delivered from the bondage 
of corruption." The chains that bind it in subjection 



2J4 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

to vanity shall be broken; the curse that dooms it 
to suffering and corruption shall be removed. The 
last trace of the serpent's trail shall disappear, and 
instead of its present groaning and travailing together 
in pain, its myriad voices shall be attuned to the 
sweetest symphonies of gladness and triumph. The 
prophetic testimony shall be fulfilled : " Instead of 
the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the 
bri^r shall come up the myrtle tree " — " the desert 
shall rejoice and blossom as the rose " — and " the 
mountains and hills shall break forth into singing, 
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands." 

Still carrying out the idea of sympathy, and a pro- 
found correspondence between man and the creature, 
the apostle adds, the creature shall be introduced 
" into the glorious liberty of the children of God " — 
or rather "into the liberty of the glory of the children 
of God." It shall have liberty — liberty from that 
vanity under which it now suffers and perishes; the 
promise that the seed of the woman should bruise 
the serpent's head includes in its reach of blessing 
the redemption of man's inheritance by the over- 
throw of him who usurped it, and the purging away 
of all the evil with which his slimy presence has defiled 
and infected it. And it shall have liberty of glory; 
while it shall contribute to the glory of the manifes- 
tation of the sons of God, in some way suited to its 
nature it shall partake of their spiritual splendor. 
The sons of God have the liberty of grace now; then 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 2J5 

they shall have the liberty of glory — the liberty of 
perfect love and a boundless joyousness — yet still in 
glad subjection to Jesus Christ. The creature is now 
under constraint — whatever of submission and service 
it renders to man is of force. Then the same 
wondrous love that enfranchises him under Christ 
will flow down through all orders of being enfranchis- 
ing them under man — restoring that friendship and 
willing subjection that characterized them in the 
days of primeval innocence — thus giving them in 
their sphere and according to their nature a partici- 
pation in the glory of the completed redemption. 

The creature then shall be elevated to a state of 
glorification. This lower world shall be renewed. 
Isaiah foretold the creation of new heavens and a 
new earth; and adds, " The new heavens and the new 
earth which I will make shall remain before me." 
And Peter says : " We, according to his promise, 
look for a new heaven and a new earth wherein 
dwelleth righteousness." And that of which Isaiah 
prophesied and for which Peter looked, John saw in 
his vision of the things that must shortly be done. 
We are told that the present " heavens shall pass 
away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt 
with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are 
therein shall be burned up." By the mighty convul- 
sions of the last day the existing frame of nature may 
be utterly broken down, and the earth become again 
without form and void; and out of this second chaos 



2 7 6 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



almighty power may call forth another heaven and 
another earth, not merely rivaling but immeasurably 
surpassing in magnificence the original creation: 
the fields above us again glowing with the splendors 
of unnumbered worlds, moving with grander sweep, 
and a sublimer harmony, and to a music deeper and 
richer far than the ancient song of the morning stars, 
and the earth again clothed with verdure and beauti- 
fied with all the forms of material loveliness and 
peopled with the endless variety of sentient ex- 
istence — no longer suffering, but radiant with beauty, 
smiling in heavenly security, exulting in joy and 
echoing with praises. And delivered from the curse 
through the grace of Jesus Christ — the usurper cast 
out foreA'er and even* mark of his foot-steps gone — 
and immortalized in its greater than Eden's glory, 
for aught we know it may be the eternal home of 
the redeemed of the Lord. We know that God in the 
beginning accounted it a fit home for man in his sin- 
less state. And when it has undergone this mighty 
transformation and is itself in some sense glorified, 
we find no reason why it may not be the perpetual 
home of the sons of God. 

For this, its final redemption, the whole creation 
is looking and patiently waiting. It shall be realized 
when the work of Christ reaches its final issue in the 
completed deliverance and glorification of believing 
humanity. 

How well fitted is this interpretation to deepen 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 27 j 

our impressions and enlarge our conceptions of the 
excellence of " the glory that shall be revealed in 
us ! " The manifestation of that glory shall not only 
kindle the love of the powers above us to an intenser 
glow, and their rapture to a loftier, holier height, 
but shall lift the creature below us to a new and 
higher life. A few of its straggling rays have fallen 
already on the creature, and that faintest vision of its 
excellency has awakened the deepest yearning for its 
full revelation. That must be glory, indeed, which is 
so wide-reaching in its results, and an object of such 
profound interest, longing, and hope to the whole 
creation. 

II. THE INTEREST OF THE SONS OF GOD IN THIS EVENT. 

" And not only they, but ourselves also, which have 
the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan 
within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to-wit, the 
redemption of our body." 

Their present condition is one of exalted privilege, 
and is rich in enjoyment. They " have the first-fruits 
of the Spirit." The first-fruit was that portion of 
the productions of the earth which, under the old 
economy, was offered to God. From the nature of 
the case, it contained both the evidence and the as- 
surance of the whole harvest being secured. It in- 
cludes, therefore, the idea of an earnest or pledge 
as well as of priority. Hence " the first-fruit of the 
Spirit " and " the earnest of the Spirit " are synony- 



2j8 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



mous expressions, and import both a foretaste of the 
heavenly glory and an assurance of its full bestow- 
ment hereafter. 

These first-fruits consist in the Spirit's work in 
them: in their new birth unto righteousness — in the 
revelation of God in their souls as a Father reconciled 
unto them through Jesus Christ — in that evidence 
of acceptance which enables them " with confidence 
to draw nigh and Father, Abba, Father cry " — in the 
love, joy, peace, and holy hope which are the fruits 
of his gracious operation. In these they have the 
first-fruits of their inheritance — the foretaste of its 
joy and the pledge of its complete possession in God's 
good time. Grace is the earnest of glory; the spiritual 
life begun on earth is unfolded and perpetuated in 
the eternal life in heaven — this is the bubbling spring 
and the thread-like brook, that, the mighty river and 
the boundless ocean. 

But, though they " have the first-fruits of the 
Spirit " — though they are " the children of God, and 
if children, then heirs " — though " begotten again 
unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ 
from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, unde- 
filed, and that fadeth not away," their state is not one 
of complete rest and satisfaction. They have the joy 
of salvation — the joy of reconciliation, assurance, 
hope; but they still groan within themselves, and wait 
and long for a yet higher and perfect good. Nor is 
this strange. The few clusters of the grapes of Eschol 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



279 



which are brought to them in the wilderness show 
them the exceeding goodness of the land whence 
they come. The little rills of comfort that so cheer 
and gladden their weary pilgrimage, the few flowers 
of holy love and joy that so refresh them with their 
beauty and fragrance, the sweet melody of those 
songs of the heart that so often inspire them with new 
strength and courage for the trials of the way — the 
faint glimpses, which in their moments of spiritual 
exaltation, they sometimes have, the transcendent 
loveliness of Jesus their Saviour, the magnificence 
of the inspired pictures of the heavenly home, with 
all its shining ranks of glorified intelligences — may 
well awaken a longing to look on its unveiled glory, 
to " see the King in his beauty," to join in the 
worship, enjoy the associations, and drink of the 
pleasures of " the purchased possession." In the 
present life, they have tribulations; they have toil 
and care, disappointment and suffering, bereavement 
and sorrow, fears within and fightings without, and 
often walk in darkness and have no light. No wonder 
that their tired spirits are often ready to cry out with 
David: " O, that I had wings like a dove, for then 
would I fly away and be at rest ! " Nothing is more 
natural than that the little child abroad in the world 
among strangers should cry for home — for the guid- 
ing and protecting hand of father and the warm 
embrace and loving words of mother. And think it 
not strange if the child of God — a pilgrim and a 



280 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



stranger on the earth — tossed by the world's rude 
storms, and worn down by its hard usage — should 
sometimes sigh and even weep for home — for the 
hour when " mortality shall be swallowed up of life," 
and he shall enter on the perfect rest and eternal se- 
curity of the Father's house. 

But that for which they are described as especially 
waiting and groaning is " the adoption, to-wit, the 
redemption of their body." Adoption is already 
theirs as a spiritual relation; but their outward con- 
dition does not correspond with this relation. They 
wait the establishment of that correspondence, and 
that perfect outward manifestation of the inward 
spiritual relation which is consequent only on the 
final deliverance of the body from the bondage of 
corruption and death. 

The redemption of the body, while necessary to 
the completeness of the triumph of Christ, is neces- 
sary also to the completeness of the redeemed. A 
disembodied spirit is not a perfect man. The body 
must be raised — and raised to a life of freedom from 
the natural necessities and frailties of its present state. 
Now, in many ways, it is a source and instrument of 
temptation, and often a sad hindrance to the de- 
velopment of the spiritual life. In its higher form it 
is perfectly adapted to the spirit — and not only its 
organ as now but its image, its complete outward 
expression. And the spirit filled and resplendent with 
the glory of Christ, and the body filled and resplen- 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 281 



dent with the glory of the spirit, the sons of God 
shall be manifested to the universe in the perfection 
of their being — the glory of Christ shall be revealed 
in them, and through them to all intelligences. 

In the souls of the children of God there is an in- 
stinctive longing for the coming of this glad event. 
The battle is fierce, the burden is heavy, the way is 
rugged — O, when will Jesus come and take his 
weary pilgrims home ! When will the power of sin and 
death be destroyed, and the glorious liberty of a per- 
fected redemption be ours forever ! " Behold, I come 
quickly." Our longing hearts would rejoice in that 
precious word of promise, and would join with the 
general church in the responsive cry — " Even so, 
come, Lord Jesus." 

Those who sleep in Jesus, no doubt, participate 
in this longing of the saints on earth. They rest 
from their labors; but they wait and hope for the 
redemption of the body, when Jesus shall perfect 
their being, and fit them for the highest ministries 
of his heavenly kingdom. They look with deepest 
interest on the fortunes of the militant church, and 
rejoice with exceeding joy in its conquests. Their 
longing for its final victory swells into a holy im- 
patience; from beneath the altar they cry, "How 
long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and 
avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth." 
They without us cannot be made perfect. They have 
received and seen much — but have not received the 
18 



282 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

fulness of the promised redemption, nor can they until 
death and hell are cast into the bottomless pit and the 
whole company of the redeemed are glorified to- 
gether and prepared to take their places in that sub- 
lime polity that shall consummate and crown the 
works of God. No marvel then that they join with 
their struggling brethren on earth in the earnest 
desire for the hour when Jesus " shall come to be 
glorified in his saints and admired in all them that 
believe." 

And we might give to our view a still wider range : 
" Unto the principalities and powers in the heavenly 
places is made known by the church the manifold 
wisdom of God." It pleased the Father, by the 
blood of the cross, " to reconcile all things unto 
himself." The harmonies of the universe are set to 
the redemption of Jesus Christ as their key-note. 
His cross is the theme of its songs and the inspiration 
of its movements. And the completion of his work 
in the final subjection of all things unto himself, as 
it will be the signal of the banishment of all discordant 
elements and the reign of absolute and universal 
peace, will be the occasion of an outburst of praise 
that shall swell from the hearts of all holy beings, 
and roll out and on forever through all the worlds of 
God's virtuous empire. 

" The manifestation of the sons of God," therefore, 
is an event second in interest only to the death of 
Christ. None of God's creatures, save fallen angels 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 283 

and wicked men, are indifferent to it; none in heaven, 
or on earth, or in hell, will be unaffected by it. On 
all God has impressed a sense of its dignity; in all 
save the wicked He has awakened a desire for its 
glory. The whole creation — the militant church in 
her struggles — the triumphant church in her rest, 
are waiting and watching and hoping for its coming. 
The angelic powers with burning zeal are at work, 
and with glad anticipation are looking for it. Jesus 
himself, the " head over all things," is directing the 
infinite energies of his love and power to its accom- 
plishment. And no joy will be deeper than his when 
he comes to receive his ready bride and espouse her 
unto himself forever. " He shall then see of the 
travail of his soul and be satisfied " — have the fulness 
of that joy, in anticipation of which " he endured the 
cross, despising the shame." 

In the prospect of the glory of such an event, 
perhaps in the near future, we can well afford to 
endure patiently and gladly the suffering of the way. 
We can well afford to deny ourselves all ungodliness 
and worldly lusts : — to toil on wearily from year to 
year — to bear reproach and buffeting — to have no 
certain dwelling place — to die unknown, and slumber 
in the grave marked by no marble monument and no 
flowers of affection and hope. We can well afford 
to drink of the waters of Marah and eat the bread of 
affliction for a little season. The day of our sorrow and 
conflict will ere long come to a perpetual end. Jesus 



284 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



will come, and will not tarry; and we shall be mani- 
fested as the sons of God, and take our piace and 
receive our inheritance as joint heirs with him. And 
not only will we ourselves rejoice in our safety and 
glory, but Jesus himself will rejoice, archangels, cheru- 
bim and seraphim will rejoice, the new heavens and 
the new earth will join in the general joy, the whole 
creation elevated by the redemption that is in Christ 
Jesus to a loftier platform, and entering on a new and 
more wonderful epoch of being and destiny, shall 
unite in glad ascriptions of praise and power and 
dominion unto him that sitteth on the throne and 
unto the Lamb forever. " I reckon that the sufferings 
of this present time are not worthy to be compared 
with the glory that shall then be revealed in us." 



Pentecost and Woman." 



"And your daughters shall prophesy." — Acts ii, 17. 

The text is quoted by Peter from Joel's prophecy 
of what would take place in the last days. This 
prophecy was fulfilled in the outpouring of the Spirit 
on the day of Pentecost. " This," said Peter, " is 
that which was spoken by the prophet Joel." He did 
not mean that what they then witnessed resembled 
what Joel foresaw; but that the prediction was ful- 
filled in the exact sense intended by the prophet. 
Joel used the word prophesy in the sense in which 
it was generally understood in his day. Whatever it 
meant then, it meant on the day of Pentecost. It 
is important that we fix its meaning in our minds as 
definitely as possible in order to a proper under- 
standing and appreciation of woman's position and . 
privilege and consequent responsibility under the 
gospel. 

The priests were originally the teachers and gov-, 
ernors of the people in things spiritual. In course of 
time they became corrupt and unfit for their high 
trust. Thereupon, as an agency of reform, and for 

* Delivered before the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Virginia 
Conference at its annual session held in Monumental Church, Portsmouth, Va., 
November, 1885. 

[285] 



I 



286 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

the conservation of religious truth, a new order, that 
of prophet, was introduced. There are allusions to 
this order in the Pentateuch ; but it was not developed 
into prominence and importance until the days of 
Samuel. He gave it permanence and influence by 
establishing schools in which young men of promise 
were instructed in the Law, and in Poetry, and Music. 
There were such schools at Ramah, Bethel, Gilgal 
and Jericho. Men trained in these schools were called 
" sons of the prophets," and were recognized as be- 
longing to the prophetic order. From their number 
the official prophet of the nation was generally 
chosen. But this was not always the case. The 
Holy Ghost was not restricted to orders, or to any 
particular class of instruments. He sometimes passed 
by the whole prophetic order, and bestowed the 
prophetic gift in its highest form on the untrained 
sons of humble toil. And all who are recognized in 
the Sacred Canon as true prophets hold their place 
as such not because they belonged to the prophetic 
order, or had been trained in the schools of the 
prophets, but because they had the prophetic gift. 
The gift, and not the order, was the thing essential to 
the true prophet. 

What was that gift? If we consult their personal 
history and their writings we find that they were 
poets, historians, politicans. They were the coun- 
sellors of those in authority, the expounders of the 
law, and the teachers and pastors of the -people. They 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



287 



were also the instruments of revelation. God made 
known through them his will concerning his people, 
and the events that would take place in the future. 
But their poetry was distinguished from all other by 
the depth and fervor of its spirituality. Their history 
was preeminently a record of God's way in the earth 
and not merely of human action and motive. Their 
patriotic addresses were all a presentation and en- 
forcement of religious truth and duty. Their exposi- 
tions of the law, while not ignoring the ritualistic 
element, exalted and glorified the spiritual. In a 
word they were religious teachers. Their mission was 
to teach religious truth. And whether they spoke in 
the glowing imagery of the imagination, or recorded 
facts of history, or expounded what was written, or 
foretold events to come, their aim was to instruct the 
people in the things of God. And this we hold to be 
the scriptural idea of prophesying in the last analysis 
of the word. 

In order to such prophesying it was necessary that 
the heart be right with God. The man must be in 
sympathy with the divine heart and will, in deepest, 
closest fellowship with God and eternal things. He 
must be filled with the Spirit — the Spirit's light and 
gracious influences so filling his mind, heart, con- 
science, will, that his teaching, while an intellectual 
exercise, shall be surcharged with the moral and 
spiritual. Thus transformed by the Spirit, and 
dwelling in God, and God in him, he is prepared to 



288 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



teach with power and effectiveness. If now the 
people are to be warned of coming peril, if purposes 
yet hidden or events yet future are to be revealed, 
to this man, already the subject of the enlightening 
and sanctifying power of the Spirit. God speaks, 
makes known his will and directs its publication. 
And such is the clearness and emphasis with which 
God speaks in him, that in the delivery of his message, 
with an absolute confidence, he introduces it with: 
" Thus saith the Lord." Teaching under such in- 
spiration is prophesying in the highest sense of the 
the word. But all the prophets were not the subjects 
of this inspiration, and no one of them was its subject 
all the time. The gift of prescience and prediction 
was incidental rather than essential to the office. The 
gift of interpretation, or teaching under the illumi- 
nation and guidance of the Holy Ghost, was the 
essential qualification of the true prophet. The 
degree of his inspiration, whether enabling him to 
forecast the future or not, did not enter into the 
question of his authority as the messenger of God. 

The prophetic order was limited to men. The 
prophetic gift was occasionally bestowed on women. 
Miriam is called a prophetess. She was probably a 
teacher of the women of Israel, and a leader of their 
devotions. Xo prediction of future events is ascribed 
to her. We read also of " Deborah the prophetess." 
Her only recorded prophesy is her poem composed 
and sung in commemoration of her victor}- over 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 28g 

Sisera. King Josiah sent a deputation to " Huldah 
the prophetess " to inquire of the Lord through her 
concerning the Book which had been found in the 
temple. She foretold the evil that was coming on her 
people. When the infant Jesus was presented in the 
temple, " there was one Anna, a prophetess, .... 
who gave thanks unto the Lord, and spake of him 
to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem." 
Thus we find four women named as specially chosen 
and endowed by the Spirit for communicating 
religious truth under the old dispensation. 

Woman's position in Israel was far better than in 
other oriental countries. She had great liberty. She 
could mingle more freely with the other sex in the 
duties and amenities of ordinary life. She had better 
advantages for cultivation, and was sometimes en- 
trusted with public office. But she was regarded as 
man's inferior, and her place as subordinate. In 
matters of religion she was under restrictions. She 
was not called to participate in the great religious 
festivals. In the structure of the temple " the court 
of the women " was separated from " the court of 
Israel " by a massive wall. Only the men could 
appear before God in the holy place; only to them 
pertained the highest, holiest privileges and duties 
of religion. 

But the " afterward " of which Joel speaks is now 
at hand. Jesus had come, and, entering upon his 
public ministry, had declared that his mission was 



2 go True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

" to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty 
to the captives, and the opening of the prison doors to 
them that are bound." He lifted up a standard against 
every form of injustice, oppression and wrong, and 
sought to adjust all human relations on the immu- 
table principles of right and fitness. He aimed to 
correct the ruinous errors in which sin had involved 
our race, and restore every being to his right position, 
and give to every principle its appropriate sphere and 
legitimate influence. 

His coming, therefore, was a grand epoch in 
woman's history. It was the signal of her deliverance 
from the disabilities under which she had labored for 
ages and her reinstatement in her rightful position. 
He gave her many tokens of his good will concerning 
her. He always saluted her with courtesy and tender- 
ness. He defended her against the aspersions of 
arrogant self-righteousness and heartless cupidity. 
He openly commended her faith and love. He ac- 
cepted her loving ministrations, and pronounced 
blessings immortal upon her. No other teacher had 
ever spoken to her so tenderly, so thoroughly under- 
stood her heart, so fully appreciated her powers, or 
so deeply sympathized with her in her distresses. It 
is no marvel that she loved him and followed him to 
the very gates of death, and when all others, save 
one, had forsaken him, still kept her place by the 
cross. 

He is borne by Joseph and Nicodemus to his 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 2gi 

burial. And " the women also which came with 
him from Galilee followed after and beheld the sep- 
ulchre, and how his body was laid." Early on the 
morning of the third day, while it was yet dark, they 
hastened to the tomb. They found it empty. But 
an angel was there to comfort and reassure them. 
They were the first to receive and publish the tidings 
of his resurrection. 

The forty days, with their shadows of mystery and 
glimpses of glory, have passed ; he has spoken his last 
word to his followers and has been received up into 
glory. In an upper room in Jerusalem his disciples 
have assembled for prayer. With them are " the 
women, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and his 
brethren." While they were thus " all with one 
accord in one place, suddenly there came a sound 
from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it 
filled all the house where they were sitting. And 
there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of 
fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were 
all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak 
with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utter- 
ance." The Spirit makes no distinction now. The 
ancient wall of partition is broken down. The 
tongues of fire rest upon the women as well as the 
men. For under the gospel there is " neither Jew 
nor Greek, neither bond nor free, neither male nor 
female, but ye shall be one in Christ Jesus; " one in 
interest in him; one in spiritual privilege; one in the 



292 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



gift and graces of the Holy Ghost. There is hence- 
forth a common priesthood of all believers, without 
distinction of age, rank or sex, " and the Holy Spirit 
is the anointing whereby we are fitted for and con- 
secrated to this priesthood." 

Woman partakes even more largely than man 
of the benefits of this new order of things. First 
comes her liberty, the breaking of her old fetters, 
and the removal of her disabilities: and then her 
advancement to coequality with him in privilege, and 
the liberty of joining hand in hand with him in 
diffusing abroad the savor of the knowledge of Christ. 
And as she has received the gift, it is her duty, no 
less than man's, to " minister as of the ability that 
God giveth." This, her endowment by the Spirit 
for gospel work, was what Joel foresaw, and what 
Peter declared accomplished on the day of Pentecost. 

The gifts of Pentecost were, in part, needful only 
in that day, and therefore disappeared when the 
canon of inspiration was completed, and the church 
had acquired stability and consistency of form and 
method. But the spirit of wisdom and understanding 
in the things of God is the permanent heritage of 
believers. Prophecy in the sense of prediction has 
ceased; but prophesying in the sense of teaching, 
under the enlightenment, impulse, and guidance of 
the Holy Ghost is as truly the function of believers 
to-day as when they first went out from that upper 
chamber in Jerusalem. To every believer " is given 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 293 

a manifestation of the Spirit " for his own and for 
others' profit. First become a disciple yourself; next 
disciple others, is the gospel order. 

We have no definite information as to the way 
in which the women who received the pentecostal 
baptism exercised the divine gift. The silence of 
history justifies the conclusion that none of them be- 
came preachers in the ordinary meaning of the word. 
But that they became earnest, loving workers for 
Christ, and contributed largely to the furtherance of 
the gospel is abundantly evident. There were min- 
istries of tenderness and love appropriate to their 
hands as deaconesses. There were classes of young 
believers over which Philip's divinely gifted daughters 
could preside. There were homes of sorrow and want 
in which Dorcas could find scope for all her zeal in 
works of charity. Priscilla could take the eloquent 
Apollos to her home, and with her husband, in- 
struct him more perfectly in the way of the Lord. 
Paul commends Phoebe, Lois, Eunice, Euodias and 
Syntiche by name, and makes allusion to others with- 
out naming them, " who labored with him in the 
gospel." John honors " the elect lady " with an in- 
spired epistle, thus embalming and perpetuating 
through the ages the memory of her faith and love. 

Her liberty, her endowments and her power were 
thus recognized by the apostles, her sympathy and 
help accepted, and her influence utilized for the 
spread of the gospel. What a wonderful revolution 



294 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

is thus almost instantaneously wrought in her con- 
dition. There are many contrasts between the old and 
the new dispensations; not the least striking is the 
difference in her position, the different estimate put 
upon her powers, and the wider scope given for her 
holy activities. Any enumeration of the forces that 
have contributed to the stability and growth of the 
church that does not give prominence to her influence 
is not only defective, but a dishonor to the Spirit 
whose instrument she is. The truth is that woman 
is, and has been since the apostolic era, the mightiest 
human power in the church. She has been, and is to- 
day, the right arm of Romanism. Less prominent 
in Protestantism, she is not less potential in shaping 
its course, giving efficiency to its agencies, and ex- 
tending its conquests. 

Only within the past century, and chiefly within 
the current half-century, has Protestantism en- 
deavored to systematize, develop, and use this power 
in the prosecution of its mission. In its view " your 
daughters — my handmaids — shall prophesy," meant 
practically nothing. But its eyes have been opened, 
and recognizing in her a force as old as Pentecost, 
given of heaven to fit her for colaboring with God 
and men in subduing all things unto Jesus Christ, it 
is inviting and leading her forward and bidding her 
god-speed in her mission of faith and love. 

To what grand result has this partial recognition 
of her power already led! How magnificently is 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 2Q5 



she fulfilling the prophetic testimony! She lays her 
heart at the feet of Jesus with all its wealth of energy 
and resource, with a love as tender as that of Mary 
of Bethany and a devotion as complete as that of the 
holy women who gathered about his cross. From 
his feet she has opened pathways in every direction 
out into the world, into its cellars and garrets, its 
prisons and hospitals, its homes of sorrow, tears and 
shame, and across mountains and plains, deserts and 
oceans into the habitations of cruelty and the region 
and shadow of death. Along all these pathways she 
is not simply sending, but with a glad heart is herself 
bearing to poor humanity the riches of God's loving 
kindness and the glad tidings of a better life. To 
every beneficent, saving enterprise, whether man's or 
peculiarly her own, she is giving the support of her 
sympathy and sanctified endeavor. In her zeal for 
human good and the glory of Christ, in her self-sacri- 
fice and consecration, and the evident tokens of the 
Spirit's power resting upon her, we behold a larger, 
richer fulfillment of the prophecy concerning her, 
than Peter saw on the day of Pentecost. 

A still grander fulfillment will be witnessed in the 
not distant future. Evangelical Christendom is 
realizing more fully than ever before her privilege 
and responsibility under the Spirit's dispensation. 
Hitherto conventionality has kept her not at man's 
side, but far in the background, in a seclusion little 
less rigid than that of the cloister. Such convention- 



2g6 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

ality some call conservatism. In reality it is unbelief, 
a practical denial of the Spirit's gift to her, or a 
questioning of his wisdom in bestowing it. But as 
never before in the world's history, the churches are 
relieving her of this traditional restriction and 
opening the way for her to follow the promptings of 
her love for Christ. And when devout christian 
women everywhere find themselves at liberty to pour 
the full tide of their moral and spiritual energy along 
the channels of the world's redeeming agencies, it will 
not be long before our race will be delivered from the 
bondage of the oppressor. Society will be re- 
generated; home life will be glorified; and the church 
will be made ready, adorned as a bride for her 
husband. 

One principal field of her activities is in the 
Foreign Mission work of the church. A wonderful 
interest has been developed in this direction among 
devout women in all the churches wthin the past 
sixty years. Individual women had exhibited this 
interest and engaged in this work at an earlier day; 
but it was not until 1819 that there began to be 
organization and concert of effort. In April of that 
year, the Female Missionary Society of the M. E. 
Church was organized in New York, and began its 
work of " raising funds and other supplies for the 
missionaries among the Indian tribes in this country 
and in Canada." In 1848 the Ladies' China Mis- 
sionary Society was organized in Baltimore, and 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 2gj 



undertook the support of a female school in Fuchow. 
" Let this school," wrote Dr. Durbin, " be the honor 
and light-house of Baltimore in the midst of more 
than 400,000,000 people who give to death more than 
half their female children." Since 1861 twenty-two 
Societies have been formed, and are now in successful 
operation, representing all the evangelical denomina- 
tions of the country. The grand total of their re- 
ceipts, since their organization, is between $8,000,000 
and $10,000,000. The Societies of the different 
branches of the Presbyterian Church have made the 
largest contribution to this total; the Congregation- 
alists hold the second place on this roll of honor; 
and the Methodists the third place. Thus, though 
Methodist women organized and worked in this field 
forty years before the women of any other Church 
entered it, and though the numerical and financial 
strength of their Church exceeds that of any other 
denomination in the land, they have been surpassed, 
if not in zeal, yet in success by the women of two 
sister Churches. While we rejoice in the efficiency 
and success of others let it provoke us to increased 
diligence and activity. 

The funds raised by these Societies are being used 
in well-nigh every quarter of the globe in the estab- 
lishment and support of Christian schools, in the 
support of Missionaries and Bible-women, in building 
churches and hospitals, and in caring for the suffering. 
The workers, foreign and native, who are supported 
19 



2g8 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

by these Societies may be counted by the thousand. 
God has given the word and great is the company 
of those who have responded, and have gone from the 
light and immunities of a Christian civilization and 
the comforts and endearments of Christian homes 
into the darkness of paganism to tell their degraded 
sisters the story of Jesus and his love. They have 
gone under the sweet constraints of his love, in search 
of his lost ones in the wilderness, glad to encounter 
pain and endure privations to rescue the perishing 
and bring them safely into the fold. And they are 
gaining access to those innermost shrines of moral 
darkness and corruption, the homes of heathenism, 
and from these hiding places of death they are 
gathering precious jewels for the crown of their 
King. 

Unbelief, looking on the self-sacrifice and conse- 
cration of these devout women, may ask with as 
much reason to-day as on the day of Pentecost, 
"What meaneth this?" Faith replies, "This is that 
which was spoken by the prophet Joel " — the ful- 
fillment of the prediction as the fruit of the baptism 
of power. 

My sisters of the Virginia Conference Woman's 
Missionary Society, I bid you god-speed in all your 
endeavors to send the message of salvation to them 
that dwell in darkness. Our Church has been among 
the last to invoke woman's aid in this work. Your 
Society is yet in its infancy. As yet it has enlisted 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 299 

sympathy and activities of comparatively few of your 
sisters. The cooperation of your brethren is but 
partial. There are some who still cavil, and whose 
spirit is that of opposition. But when God crowned 
those women of the olden time with tongues of fire 
and filled them with the Holy Ghost he accredited 
your sex for gospel work. The results of your efforts 
at the present day are your divinely authenticated 
credentials. And if God be for you who can be 
against you? If he smile upon you surely you can- 
not falter for a moment under the frown of caviling 
men and women. 

The results, so far accomplished, are by no means 
commensurate with your hopes. The consciousness 
of your feebleness may sometimes awaken misgivings, 
and apparent failure may discourage you and chill 
your ardor. But in the order of God agencies that 
seem the feeblest often achieve the grandest and most 
far reaching results. Of one thing you may be sure: 
honest, earnest, loving Christian endeavor is never 
wholly fruitless. We may see no beneficent results, 
and conclude that we have labored in vain. But long, 
it may be, after our lips are sealed and our hearts are 
still, the words of truth we have uttered and the deeds 
of love that we have done in Jesus' name will enrich 
and glorify the lives of those among whom we have 
lived, and labored, and died. And the fruit will con- 
tinue to multiply and reproduce itself in increased 
richness as the years go by. 



joo True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

Go forward with unwavering purpose, unflinching 
courage, and unfaltering faith in God. Live in 
conscious fellowship with him. The caviling and 
the indifferent, " seeing your good works," will ere 
long be silenced, if not enlisted in your behalf. The 
sympathies of the church will be quickened, your 
numbers will be multiplied; your means and oppor- 
tunities will be enlarged; and results far beyond your 
present anticipations will crown your labor of love. 

It will not be long before Jesus will come to reward 
his servants. The signs are full of promise. Holy 
men and women all over the earth are turning their 
eyes heavenward, and out of longing, loving hearts 
are crying, " Lord Jesus come quickly." " Behold 
I come quickly " is his response; " Do not grow 
weary, my loved ones, of the toil, the strife and tears, 
the watching and waiting; for I come quickly." 
Precious word ! He is coming ! He is coming ! 
Faith's quick ear may almost hear the roll of his 
chariot wheels, and faith's quick eye almost see the 
celestial fire flashing from their burning rims as he 
rushes down the shining pathway of the skies. And 
when he comes, in the van of the mighty host that will 
shout him welcome, side by side with the foremost 
of the sons, will be found the daughters of Zion. In 
that glad hour, in his look of love and word of com- 
mendation, you will find infinite reward for all your 
toil. 



Mary of Bethany — Her Love and Its 
Memorial. 



" Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall 
also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her." — Matt, 
xxvi, 13. 

Six days before his last passover, Jesus, with his 
disciples, arrived at Bethany, a village situated on the 
eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, about two miles 
from Jerusalem. Worn down with fatigue, he de- 
termined to rest there with his friends, Martha and 
Mary, and Lazarus, until after the Sabbath, which 
was the following day. At what time he made the 
acquaintance of this family is unknown. When they 
first appear in gospel history they are already his 
intimate personal friends. It is probable that he 
frequently visited them before he entered on his 
public ministry — perhaps made their house his home 
whenever he went up to the feasts — and that the 
mature and tender friendship now existing between 
them was the fruit of the social intercourse of many 
years. 

But he had other friends besides these in Bethany. 
Quiet and unpretending as it was, it had been favored 
above all other places in Judea with the tokens of his 
confidence and love. It had been the scene of some 

[301] 



j 02 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

of his most splendid and convincing miracles. No 
doubt many of its inhabitants believed in him and 
loved him, if not as the Messiah, at least as a great 
prophet sent from God. Some of these friends on 
the evening after his arrival " made him a supper"; 
in testimony of their affection gave him an entertain- 
ment, to which many of his acquaintances were in- 
vited. He was not an ascetic. Misanthropy had no 
place in his heart. He could accept an invitation 
to a marriage or a festival, and enter into all the 
innocent pleasures of such an occasion without the 
slightest compromise of his great character and lofty 
claims. He thus set the seal of his approval on the 
rites of hospitality, the amenities of social life, and the 
endearments of friendship. 

We look in for a moment on this company assem- 
bled in his honor. Of course Jesus is the central 
figure. His countenance is somewhat saddened by 
the shadow of the cross which has already fallen upon 
it, but is still " altogether lovely." His words are full 
of gentleness and simplicity, and his heart is sweetly 
responsive to every approach and expression of love 
from those around him. On his right hand is 
Lazarus, still in the bloom of early manhood, his eye 
clear and radiant, and his face as joyous as the sun- 
shine. A little while before he had been in the grave, 
but at the bidding of Jesus he came forth, and lives 
now a monument of his divine power and love. On 
his left is Simon, in whose house the feast is prepared; 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. joj 

he is called " the Leper " — an appellative which he 
bears in honor of Jesus, by whom he had been 
cleansed. There, too, are the disciples, the twelve. 
They are uncouth in appearance and uncultivated in 
speech and manner, but will ere long " turn the 
world upside down." Some of the company are re- 
clining at the table, partaking of the evening meal; 
others are standing in groups engaged in social con- 
verse. There in the background is " Judas Iscariot, 
which also betrayed him." He has but little sympathy 
with the spirit of the occasion; a cloud is on his brow; 
the purpose of murder is in his heart. " Martha 
served." She is moving briskly, but noiselessly 
around the table and among the guests, specially at- 
tentive to Jesus, but carefully supplying the wants 
of all. Her chief concern is that everything shall be 
done in its proper time and order, that the feast may 
be a success, a credit to those who gave it, and an 
honor to Jesus. The figure of Mary completes the 
outline of the picture. Her form is half concealed 
by the couch on which Jesus is reclining. She is 
bowing down over his feet, and wiping them with 
her hair. A delightful odor which has filled the 
house, and the fragments of a broken alabaster box 
on the floor at her side tell to all the story of her love. 
Some were, no doubt, deeply touched by her signifi- 
cant act; others could not appreciate the feeling that 
prompted it; one openly condemned it. Against 
that one's heartlessness and hypocrisy the Master at 



jo/f. True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



once defended her, and at the same time gave her the 
pledge of an enduring fame. " Verily, I say unto 
you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in 
the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman 
hath done, be told for a memorial of her." 

I. Her act was in itself very simple; she took a 
pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and 
after pouring a portion of it on his head, with the 
remainder anointed his feet, and wiped his feet with 
her hair. But it would be unjust both to Jesus and 
to her, as well as contradictory of the history, to re- 
gard this act merely as an empty ceremony. It had 
a profound significance. He saw in it a prophecy of 
his suffering and death, and said, " Let her alone; 
against the day of my burying hath she kept this." 
It may be doubted whether she fully understood its 
prophetic import, or whether she had at the time any 
thought of his death. In so far as she was concerned 
the act was the natural fruitage of the reigning 
principle and sentiment of her soul — just as the tender 
shoot, the stalk, the ear, and the full corn in the ear 
are the unfoldings of the life that is in the grain. That 
principle was love for Christ — with her an all-ab- 
sorbing and controlling passion. It was her nature 
to love supremely whatever engaged her affections. 
She had a quiet, contemplative disposition, but at 
the same time a depth and ardor of spirit that could 
be satisfied to bestow nothing less than all of itself 
on its object. She found in Jesus all .that her heart 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. joj 

craved, the perfect ideal of her deepest meditations 
and aspirations. He was to her the embodiment of 
all wisdom, and goodness, and loveliness. In his con- 
versation there was an ineffable charm for her. Her 
favorite posture was at his feet, looking up into his 
face, and catching and storing away in her heart the 
precious words that fell from his lips. It was not 
simply because he sympathized with her, and wept 
with her, and raised her brother from the dead, that 
she loved him. But her heart was satisfied in him, 
and therefore she lavished upon him all the wealth of 
her affections. This anointing was an effort to give 
expression to that love. It was too deep, too tender 
and ardent, to be compressed into the cold forms of 
human speech, and by symbolic action she sought 
to declare what every loving heart knows to be in- 
expressible in words. In her act we discover — 

i. The humility of her love. She did not send 
her gift, but brought it herself, and with her own 
hands poured the precious ointment on him. To 
anoint the head was a mark of respect not un- 
frequently paid by a host to a distinguished guest: 
she anointed his feet. When Jesus washed his dis- 
ciples' feet, he " wiped them with the towel where- 
with he was girded." Mary, in her lowliness, wiped 
his feet with her hair. Her hair was " her glory"; 
it did not come from the shops of vanity — supplied 
by the poverty of the living, or the graves of the 
dead, or the mermaids of the sea — but God had given 



jo6 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

it to her — given it to her, not to be twisted and 
tortured into every conceivable absurdity, but, ac- 
cording to Paul, to be worn as a simple and graceful 
covering for her head and person. It was her chief 
personal adornment, that which she prized most highly 
and on which she bestowed more care than on any- 
thing else pertaining to her outward appearance. 
And now to devote " her glory " to such a service was 
the highest evidence of her humility that she could 
give. Love is always humble and self-sacrificing. 
Its constant ambition is to minister to the happiness 
of its object, and in its estimation no act is too lowly 
and insignificant if it but contribute to that result. 
The soul that truly loves Jesus is " ready for all his 
perfect will " — ready to take any place in his house — 
ready to do any work in his vineyard — ready to go 
on any errand of mercy. It esteems nothing too 
trivial, or too menial, if it only honors him. It is glad 
not merely to anoint his feet with oil, but, like the 
woman that was a sinner, wash them with tears in 
token of its devotion. 

2. The munificence of her love. Her gift was a 
pound of oil of spikenard. This was a perfume highly 
valued in the East, and was used only on peculiarly 
festive occasions, and then very sparingly. It was 
obtained with difficulty, and when secured was prized 
as one of the choicest treasures of the family, and 
sometimes passed from parent to child through 
several generations. Possibly this was a legacy left 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. joy 

to her by her mother, and was not only " very costly," 
in a monetary sense, but very precious because of the 
hallowed memories connected with it. No doubt it 
was her most valuable possession : the Saviour 
testified that in its bestowment she had done what 
she could. She had been taxing her ingenuity to 
devise some new expression of her love; and a 
brighter joy kindled in her eye and a deeper satisfac- 
tion filled her heart as she bethought herself of this, 
and brought it forth from its place of safe-keeping, 
resolved to bestow it on him. It was the greatest 
material sacrifice that she could make, the richest 
offering she could present. 

What a contrast between her love as thus illustrated 
and the professed affection of multitudes at the 
present day. The question, with many, seems to be, 
not " How much can I do for Jesus? How much can 
I bestow on him, and yet have all my reasonable 
wants supplied? " but " How little can I do, and yet 
maintain a decent profession of religion? How far 
can I go in worldy display and indulgence, and yet 
hold my position as a member of the church? " It 
has often been an occasion of surprise and grief to 
Christian pastors that so small a proportion of the 
members of their flocks respond at all to the appeals 
of benevolence, and that of those who do respond 
so few do so in a measure corresponding to their 
ability and obligation. They will tax themselves to 
the utmost to indulge some vain fancy, or gratify their 



jo8 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

worldly ambition, or some ruinous appetite; but when 
the claims of great Christian enterprises, involving the 
honor of Christ and the salvation of men, are pre- 
sented, the cost of a single sensual indulgence, a 
single theatre ticket, a single feather, or flower, or 
flashing gewgaw, is too much for them to bestow. 

If Jesus is anything to us, he is everything. If 
he is worthy even of a passing thought, he is worthy 
of the heart's purest adoration. 

Nothing is comparable to him. " Odors of Edom 
and offerings divine, gems from the mountain and 
pearls from the ocean, myrrh from the forest and 
gold from the mine," in all their concentrated rich- 
ness and splendor — all merely worldy objects of 
pursuit and enjoyment — and all the achievements of 
human power and genius — are altogether lighter than 
vanity when cast into the scale against him. And the 
heart that loves him in sincerity is ready to sacrifice all 
these things — not only " the vain things that charm it 
most," but, if need be, the lawful objects of its as- 
piration and affection. Its language is : "I give up 
all earthly fame, and fortune, and hope, and affec- 
tion — father, mother, wife, children, houses, lands, 
all; yes, all, for Jesus. No sacrifice is too great to be 
made, no gift too costly to be bestowed, no burden 
too heavy to be borne, in his honor. All to him I 
owe — I gladly give him all." 

Oh, for this munificence of love that thus lays 
everything at the feet of Jesus. We cannot live and 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. jog 

not love some object supremely. Let that object be 
self, pleasure, honor, riches — anything earthly — and 
our affections will be like the vine that, without a 
support, is creeping hither and thither on the ground, 
its tendrils now clasping a bramble, now a stone, now 
a broken twig, and is every day binding itself more 
and more firmly to the earth. But come with Mary 
to the feet of Jesus. Let him be the object of our 
faith, and hope, and love, and he will lift us up into 
eternal sunshine. 

There were some, one at least, who thought Mary 
too munificent in the expression of her love. Judas 
Iscariot knew nothing of the emotion that prompted 
the offering. In his selfishness he objected that it 
was a waste — a useless expenditure. The same ob- 
jection has been repeated in every age — is repeated 
to-day — whenever loving hearts would devise liberal 
things for the church of God. There always have 
been hard and selfish souls in the world that de- 
liberately count the cost of every impulse of holy 
love — that carry the reckonings of their utilitarian 
prudence into the realm of the spiritual and heavenly. 
They measure everything by the standard of utility, 
and would reject everything as so much waste in 
which the idea of the useful is not predominant. But 
utility is not all of piety. There is in the soul a wealth 
of love that can never find expression simply in sound 
doctrine, correct faith, and practical activity, but 
demands infinite expansion and forms of exhibition 



J 20 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

endlessly diversified. And despite the objection, the 
Christian heart for its own unburdening, if for no 
other reason, will never cease to pour out its treasures 
before God in forms that can never be bound down to 
the iron bed of utility. The splendid temples that 
in almost every land have been reared and dedicated 
to God, many of them magnificent triumphs of archi- 
tectural genius and skill, and all of them in their 
decoration and furniture far exceeding the limits of 
the merely useful — the sacred orchestra, the oratorio, 
the deep-toned organ — all these — not strictly useful — 
are the outpourings of a love unspeakable. And who 
that has not a Judas spirit will say that any of these 
things bestowed on Jesus out of a pure and loving 
heart is wasted or thrown away? 

We may well raise the question of economy in re- 
lation to our expenditures for ourselves. There is 
woeful waste — waste upon our persons in superfluities 
of more than enough to support every church in 
Christendom and every missionary in heathendom — 
more than enough to build a church in every pagan 
city, and send a herald of salvation to every pagan 
tribe on earth. Why this waste of the Master's 
goods? We do well to ponder the appalling fact and 
no less appalling guilt of such waste. But let us not 
dare account that which is bestowed on Jesus as 
a waste. It is so much saved. In the final wreck 
everything else will be lost. Would you save all? 
Then gather up your treasures, your hitherto wasted 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. jii 

affections, hopes, activities, and come and give them 
all to him. 

Judas suggested that it would have been better if 
the ointment had been sold and the proceeds given to 
the poor. It would have brought three hundred 
pence, and such a sum would have relieved a great 
deal of suffering. 

We sometimes hear the same suggestion in our 
day; but as then, so now, it is born of the spirit of 
covetousness rather than of benevolence. Those who 
are miserly towards God are sure to be miserly 
towards his creatures. The best guarantee of aid and 
comfort that the poor can have from any man is found 
in his entire consecration of all to God. It is when 
the heart is fullest of the love of Christ that the hands 
are readiest for deeds of generous succor. Devotion 
to him and munificence to his poor go hand in hand. 
He and they are one. His cause is their cause. His 
triumph is the pledge of their good and glory; and 
whatever is done to them he accepts or resents as if 
done to himself. " Let her alone; " and let all alone 
who imitate her example; the poor have nothing 
to fear, but everything to gain from such an out- 
pouring of the heart at the feet of Jesus. 

II. To tell Jesus of our love for him is an unspeak- 
able satisfaction. In the act of expressing its devotion 
the soul reaps a rich and delightful return. Mary had 
probably never been happier than when anointing 
his feet and wiping them with her hair. Her heart 



j 12 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

was burdened with love; and had he not cast upon her 
a single loving look, or uttered a single word of ap- 
proval, her significant act w T ould have been a means of 
sweetest relief. But there is a deeper joy than this. 
When the heart realizes that it is perfectly understood, 
and that for its poor love Jesus gives back in return 
all the wealth of his infinite heart, its rapture is com- 
plete. It is sweet to love him; it is doubly sweet to 
know that he loves us. This is heaven begun below. 
And it is his way to let us know that he loves us. 
We go through life desiring to know, yet never 
knowing the feeling of some men towards us; they 
are good men and true, but we can never find the 
door to their hearts. But Jesus lets us see his heart, 
and witness its wondrous responses to the gentlest 
touches or faintest pleadings of love. He makes us 
know what he thinks of us and how he feels towards 
us. 

Mary knew, could not help knowing, that he loved 
her. In this blissful assurance she found infinite 
compensation for a lifetime of devotion. Perhaps she 
thought of nothing, desired nothing beyond this. 
This surely is enough. But there is something more. 

The perfume of that precious ointment filled the 
house. Her love made itself known, and impressed 
itself on all who witnessed it. It was not obtrusive; 
she, perhaps, would rather have concealed it. But 
it could not be hid. It never had been hid. From 
the moment its fragrance floated out on the evening 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. jij 

air of Bethany it became immortal. " Wheresoever 
this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, 
there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be 
told for a memorial of her." The hand that pours the 
oil on his head, the form that bows in lowly adoration 
at his feet, the heart that throbs with such grateful 
joy, shall soon molder into dust; but this thing that 
she hath done shall live in the hearts of men forever. 
Interwoven as it is with the records of his redeeming 
grace, the story of her love cannot die. The per- 
petuity of the gospel is the measure of its duration, 
and the whole world the theatre of its fame. 

The men of this world have striven to perpetuate the 
memories of those who have signally honored their 
race. The monumental pile has been reared in honor 
of their dust and inscribed with the record of their 
glory. The muse of poesy has been invoked, and in 
their praise has " waked to ecstasy the living lyre." 
The canvas and the marble have heralded their fame 
from age to age. But Jesus thinks more of one 
simple act of love than of all the achievements of 
merely earthly power and genius. Man in his pride 
would have passed it by unnoticed, or noticed it only 
to condemn; but he put upon it the seal of immor- 
tality. Our deeds of love may have no such memorial 
as this among men. They may never be known be- 
yond our homes, and they may quickly fade from the 
memory of those who love us most. But he treasures 
them all up in his heart, and writes them down in the 
20 



314 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



Book of his remembrance. Mary's devotion was not 
more precious to him, nor shall her memorial be 
more enduring than that of the humblest, loving, 
trusting soul. 

Men may misjudge us, misinterpret our motives, 
and stigmatize our exhibitions of love as weakness 
or fanaticism. But they are thus unwillingly only 
contributing to our enrichment and glory. The 
selfish objection of Judas was the occasion of the 
Master's loving commendation of his hand-maid. 
And any opposition that we may encounter from the 
world will bring him nearer to us and multiply the 
tokens of his love. Every new trial or exigency of 
his servants brings into prominence some new view 
of his character and his relations to them. To see 
him in his " whole round of rays complete " we must 
experience all the vicissitudes and needs of the Chris- 
tian life. It it thus that he reveals himself in us. And 
as we contemplate the unfolding glory we are 
" changed into the same image from glory to glory 
as by the Spirit of the Lord." While, therefore, the 
harsh judgment and reproaches of men, and the multi- 
form trials of life often cause us to weep and mourn, 
they enrich our souls with heavenly graces, perfect 
our characters, and " work for us a far more ex- 
ceeding and eternal weight of glory." 

It is by loving Christ with all the heart that we 
attest the true dignity of our nature and work out the 
real ends of our probation. It is only thus that we 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 315 

attain to glory, honor, and immortality in the world 
to come. 

" Do not I love thee, O my Lord? 
Behold my heart, and see; 
And turn each cursed idol out 
That dares to rival thee." 



Memorial of Bishop David S. 
Doggett, D. D * 



" I believed, and therefore have I spoken." — II Cor. iv, 13. 

The verdict of inspiration is that " the memory of 
the just is blessed." It is precious in the sight of God. 
He treasures it up in the annals of His kingdom. He 
interweaves the story of the faith and patience of 
His saints, their love and zeal, their conflicts and 
triumphs, with the history of redemption, so that 
wheresoever this gospel is preached in the whole 
world, there shall also these things be told for a 
memorial of them. In this, He has set us the example 
of commemorating the virtue of the good : of cher- 
ishing their memory even as a mother cherishes the 
memory of her buried babe. They have lived for us. 
We are the beneficiaries of all the sweet and holy 
influences that were gathered into their lives and 
made them what they were. We reap the fruits of 
their sowing. 

In their " great fight of afflictions," we forecast 
our own conflicts; in their shouts of victory we hear 
the assurance of our success. They have lived and 



* Delivered before the Virginia Annual Conference at its session in Danville, 
Va., November — , 1880, by appointment of the Body. 

[316] 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. jiy 

toiled, suffered and died " for our learning, that we 
through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might 
have hope." 

We would not worship the saints. We would 
call no man, nor angel, Lord. Jesus is our King. 
To him only we bow our knees, and pay the tribute 
of our adoration. And it is only to the praise of 
His glorious grace that we would recount the ex- 
cellencies of His glorified servants. We would lay 
the wreath that may be woven of their virtues at His 
feet, <k and crown Him Lord of all." 

In this spirit we would essay the duty of the present 
hour. It is not so much to honor our ascended 
Bishop that we are here, as to magnify the grace of 
Jesus Christ as displayed in him. He has given to 
the world another illustration of the truth of our holy 
Christianity, of its power to fashion and to develop 
human character after the noblest type, to direct the 
life to the loftiest ends, and crown it with the greatest 
triumphs. And we cannot contemplate such an illus- 
tration without having our religious convictions 
strengthened, our views of the fulness of the redemp- 
tion that is in Christ enlarged, and all the gracious 
impulses and aspirations of our souls quickened and 
intensified. Let it be our aim in this service to find 
new inspiration for our own faith and hope and new 
occasion of " wonder and praise." 

It is not my purpose to sketch the history of 
Bishop Doggett's life and labors. This service has 



jiS True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

already been rendered by a hand more skillful than 
mine. That history deserves, and we hope will have a 
permanent place in the archives of the church. But the 
facts of a life do not constitute the life itself. The blade, 
the ear, and the full corn are but successive stages 
in the unfolding of the life-power that is in the seed. 
Back of all that we witness in the lives of men is the 
vital force, the germ of which the outer, tangible life 
is but the development or manifestation. And if the 
recital of facts commands our attention, no less deep 
an interest must attach, in the minds of the thought- 
ful, to the study of the internal principle in which 
these facts originate, and from which they derive their 
form and character. Such a study we propose now — 
a consideration of the motive-power of Bishop 
Doggett's life, the mode of its manifestation, and 
its results. And, if wx mistake not, we will find in 
the conclusion an impulse and incentive stronger 
than we have felt before to join in the apostolic 
doxology : " To the only wise God our Saviour, be 
glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now 
and ever. Amen." 

As a man thinketh in his heart so is he: it is not 
what he says or professes, but the belief that com- 
mands his judgment and dominates his moral sensi- 
bilities that gives color to his character and direction 
to his life. He is in himself, and in his relation to 
God and his fellow men, only as he believes. " Let 
me know," wrote Bishop Marvin, " what a man be- 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



3*9 



lieves, and how deeply and how strongly he believes 
it, and I will tell you all the rest." His belief is the 
secret of his life — ascertain that, and the life ceases to 
be enigmatical. 

The sources and means of conviction in relation 
to Christianity are twofold: first, testimony or evi- 
dence, and second, divine influence. A man may be 
convinced of its truth after a candid and patient 
inquiry into its evidences; or without such inquiry, 
under special divine influences, he may be immovably 
established in this belief. Conviction reached by the 
former process is intellectual ; by the latter moral and 
spiritual; in the union of the two, we have Christian 
faith in its most vital and potential form and grandest 
exhibition. 

It is this faith — intellectual and spiritual — that we 
recognize as the substratum of the life and character 
that we are considering. In an interview with him 
during his last illness, which I will cherish as one of 
the sweetest privileges of my life, the Bishop quoted 
the words of the text — " I believed, and therefore 
have I spoken " — and with his own peculiar emphasis 
and gesture added: " Yes, sir; I believe in the Chris- 
tian religion." 

No one understood better than he what was com- 
prehended in such a declaration. For more than fifty 
years he had been studying the word of God. To its 
study he had brought an intellect of great natural 
vigor and acuteness of penetration and analysis, and 



320 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



a love of the truth that led him to explore all 
accessible collateral sources of information. He had 
kept well abreast, too, with the progress of antago- 
nistic thought. With the speculations of science, 
the various phases of infidelity, and the many shades 
and perilous wanderings of free thought, he was fully 
acquainted. But all his reading, research, and re- 
flection, instead of shaking, only enriched his faith, 
enlarged its comprehension, and strengthened its 
grasp and power. And now when the work of life is 
done and the final trial is at hand, without qualifica- 
tions in any particular, or the faintest shadow of 
hesitation, he testifies : " I believe in the Christian 
religion." To all its doctrines — as expounded by 
Wesley, and Fletcher, and Watson — his judgment 
not only yielded assent, but gave its cordial endorse- 
ment. 

The faith which, in his riper years and last hours, 
rested securely on the broad basis of intelligent con- 
viction, had been wrought in him in his youth by 
special divine influence. In his seventeenth year he 
had been led to u repentance toward God and faith 
toward our Lord Jesus Christ." And so clear was 
the Spirit's revelation of forgiving and regenerating 
grace that he could never afterward question the fact 
of his conversion and adoption into the family of 
God. The gracious influence of that first experience 
of u the joys of pardoned sin " lingered as a sweet 
heavenly aroma in his soul through all the years of 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 321 

his subsequent life. From that hour his heart became 
the temple of the Holy Ghost. And thus the work 
of the study and the work of the Spirit combined to 
produce that completeness of faith which he mani- 
fested. It was not in despair of any other resource — 
not as a resort to which in extremity he was un- 
willingly driven — but of intelligent choice, and in 
joyous assurance of a triumphant issue, that he in- 
trusted the fortunes of his eternal future to the grace 
of God as revealed in the gospel. 

Wherever a true religion exists, it exerts a 
wonderful subjective influence — an influence that ex- 
tends to every power of the soul, that leavens and 
transforms every essential element of the character. 
It generates new affinities in the soul, and brings it 
into new relations to God and to all that is true, and 
beautiful, and good. 

Napoleon Bonaparte is credited with these words, 
said to have been uttered a short time before his 
death : " The gospel possesses a secret virtue of in- 
describable efficacy, a warmth which influences the 
understanding and softens the heart. . . It is more 
than a book; it is a living thing, active, powerful, 
overcoming every obstacle in the way." The faith 
that heartily appropriates the gospel converts this 
deliverance of the great exile into a fact of experience. 

Its influence on the intellect is seen in the enlarge- 
ment of its views, and in the elevation of its concep- 
tions. Everything in the gospel is great. Its 



322 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



thoughts are high as heaven and vast as eternity. Its 
words, though simple, glow with the fires of immor- 
tality. Its forms of beauty are radiant with all the 
tints of heaven and earth. Its purity is as spotless as 
the throne, and its goodness is as unsearchable as 
the heart of its glorious Author. And it carries within 
itself a marvelous, expansive, elevating and assimila- 
ting force, making everything into which it enters 
great, and beautiful, and good. It is simply im- 
possible for any mind to be brought fully under its 
influence, for any length of time, without partaking 
somewhat of its own intellectual and moral magnifi- 
cence. It is to the communion of Bishop Doggett's 
soul with the great object of his faith, and his incor- 
poration of the gospel's wonderful revelations into 
the very texture of his intellectual life, that we are 
to ascribe much of the moral beauty and grandeur 
of his conceptions. Without that faith, he might 
have been as grovelling, and barren of ennobling 
thought, as the sordid sons of darkness; with it, he 
could sweep the heavens as if with the wings of an 
angel. 

The influence of this faith in the domain of the 
moral feelings is perhaps even more marked than on 
the intellectual power. The heart, by which we mean 
the natural and moral sensibilities and affections, is 
the throne of evil. It is " deceitful above all things 
and desperately wicked." Estranged from God, and 
at enmity with all that is pure and good, it is the seat 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 323 

of a deadly malady that corrupts and poisons every 
power of our moral being, and, " when it is finished, 
bringeth forth death." The gospel is God's pro- 
vision for relief from sin. Faith in the gospel is the 
counter-active, remedial, regenerative instrumen- 
tality — not that it has intrinsic healing and trans- 
forming energy, but that in the economy of redemp- 
tion it secures to the soul the efficacy of the blood of 
Jesus and " the renewing of the Holy Ghost." Under 
its operation, by His power working in us, the do- 
minion of sin is broken, its pollutions washed away, 
and all things made new. Conscience is reinstated on 
its throne, its utterance no longer choked by the 
pestilence, and its vision no longer obscured by the 
mists of sin. The moral feelings are sanctified and 
adjusted to their right positions, and put in health- 
ful, holy exercise. The love of God becomes the 
predominant affection — the absorbing passion of the 
soul. CoSrdinate with this love, and inseparable 
from it, is the love of man. This love of God and man 
unfolds itself into multiform modifications — all the 
graces in fact that make up the saintly character. 
The glorious outcome of the whole work is, the soul 
becomes one with God, regains His likeness, partakes 
of His nature and life, and is at rest. The blessed 
calm, the deep peace that rests forever on the Infinite 
Heart, breathes not over the surface only, but down 
through all the secret places of the soul; it has 
heaven within. 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

Our deceased Bishop knew that peace. No one 
could preach more tenderly than he on the invitation 
and promise : " Come unto me, all ye that labor and 
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest/' There was 
no disorder in his own moral feelings — no conflict 
within. Reason, sensibility, and will, were in sweetest 
harmony — that harmony the result of " the sanctifi- 
cation of the Spirit, and the belief of the truth." 
There was no conflict between him and God — nothing 
but reciprocal affection, as between a tender father 
and loving child. There was no conflict between him 
and his fellow men — but confidence and esteem on 
their part, and on his earnest solicitude for their sal- 
vatism of feeling and breadth of charity, and that 
spiritual system, and could not but be at rest. No 
wonder that his eye kindled, and his countenance 
glowed with hallowed light as out of the experience 
of his own soul he discoursed on the rest in Christ. 

It was this subjective power of faith that wrought 
in him that purity of thought and speech, that fixed- 
ness of principle and singleness of aim, that conser- 
vatism of feeling and breadth of charity, and that 
sovereign command of himself and complete equi- 
poise of character, for which he was remarkable. 
It was this that took the marble from nature's rude 
quarry and polished it " after the similitude of a 
palace." The last touches were given to the beautiful 
structure amid the gathering shadows of life's twi- 
light. It stands before us now in its completeness — 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 32 § 

resplendent with the light of the divine presence and 
glory : wonderful product of the mysterious power 
concentrated in the word — I believed. 

In the interview already referred to the Bishop said 
to me : " I look upon myself as an Abraham on a 
small scale. The Lord thrust me out from the house 
of my fathers. He led me by a way that I knew not; 
and His hand has continued to lead me to the present 
moment." As truly as God called Abraham to go into 
a land " which he should after receive as an in- 
heritance, " so truly did he believe that God called 
him to the office and work of the Christian ministry. 
He did not take this honor unto himself. He did 
not choose it merely as an honorable profession. The 
calculations of selfishness did not enter into the de- 
cision. Indeed, Methodism was a very different thing 
a half century ago, as to numbers, position, and 
power, from what it is to-day; and the Methodist 
ministry offered but little temptation to the lover of 
ease or the selfish aspirant after worldly notoriety and 
aggrandizement. Had such been his motive, he had 
not become an itinerant in those heroic days. No; 
but God called him — thrust him out from the house 
of his fathers — saying to him with a distinctness and 
authority that left no room for doubt as to his duty: 
Go, preach My gospel. He received the gospel as 
interpreted in the school of Arminius and Wesley, and 
as interpreted to his own consciousness by the Holy 
Ghost. And, " not disobedient to the heavenly 



326 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



vision," while the dews of his youth were yet upon 
him, he bade adieu to the paternal home and the 
scenes and the associations of his childhood, and, 
" went out he knew not whither." It is a thrilling 
moment when the young man says to father and 
mother, " God calls me, I must bid you farewell," a 
thrilling moment when the cloud lifts itself up from 
the tabernacle and floats away, beckoning him on, as 
Israel of old, " by a way that he had not known." 
He has no token to cheer him and no pledge of the 
success of his mission but the word, " My presence 
shall go with thee ! " But God has spoken, and it is 
enough. He believed, and therefore obeyed. 

From the hour in which he first opened his com- 
mission to the world his conviction of the truth of his 
message and of his own authority to proclaim it was 
transparent. He spoke because he believed. His 
faith in the gospel held complete mastery over his 
intellect; it was rooted and grounded in the depths 
of his consciousness, and permeated and swayed his 
moral powers with an absoluteness so conspicuous as 
to forbid, on the part of even the most caviling, the 
faintest doubt as to his sincerity. His dying tes- 
timony — " I believed, and therefore have I spoken" — 
might be read in all his sermons and exhortations 
from the beginning to the end of his career. 

And he spoke what he believed. He did not carry 
" doubtful disputations " into the pulpit; he left them 
for the study, or their discussion in the pulpit for 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 327 

those who had a less commanding sense of their 
responsibility as ambassador for Christ. He was not 
a speculative preacher; he had nothing to do in the 
pulpit with the speculations of science, falsely so 
called, unless it were to pour upon them the light of 
divine truth and disclose their falsity and worthless- 
ness. He was sometimes metaphysical, his dis- 
cussions taking a range above the level of all ordinary 
thinking; but such discussions were never started or 
prosecuted for the purpose or in the spirit of mere 
speculation; they were but the unfolding of " the 
depths of the riches both of the wisdom and goodness 
of God." 

He did not go beyond the divine metaphysics of 
the gospel. In its revelation of God and humanity, 
in the wonders of redemption and providence, in the 
workings of sin and the counter-workings of the 
Spirit in the soul, in the marvelous developments 
of grace in the ages to come, in the issues of the judg- 
ment and the glory of the redeemed, as all of these, 
and kindred truths, are brought to light in the gospel, 
he found the amplest scope for the exercise of all 
his intellectual powers. And in such lofty discussions 
he delighted. Said he : "I have not been very 
demonstrative of my religious emotions. But no one, 
save those who have had similar experiences, can 
conceive of the internal joy and exultation of spirit 
that I have felt wmen discoursing on the great 
themes of the gospel; " then with a wave of the hand, 



32 8 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



and uplifted eyes, and a kindling of holy light in his 
pallid face, he exclaimed, " Oh, the atonement of 
Jesus Christ. Everlasting wonder of angels and of 
men." But the secret of his joy in these great themes 
was that he never substituted the light of his own 
reason for that of the Holy Spirit, nor permitted his 
imagination to lead him into depths where the voice 
of God could not be heard. That voice, as uttered in 
the word and interpreted by the Spirit, was supremely 
authoritative. To its command all his powers bowed 
in reverent submission. 

He did not preach in the spirit of inquiry. There 
was nothing in his manner or utterance that indicated 
that he was only feeling after the truth — nothing 
that seemed to ask, Is this, or is the converse of this 
the gospel? The inquiry, patient and painstaking, 
had already been made, the conclusion had been 
reached and the conviction settled in his own mind 
before he came before the people. Hence, there was 
no hesitation, no confusion of thought, no faltering 
step or limping gait, but the marshalling of argument 
and illustration in perfect order and solid array, and 
the confident tread of the veteran as he moved 
forward to his conclusion. His supreme aim was not 
to " minister questions " that engendered doubts or 
occasioned " perverse disputings of men of corrupt 
minds," but to work in his hearers the same convic- 
tion of truth that absorbed and inspired his own 
soul. 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 329 

Many of his happiest efforts both in the pulpit and 
on the platform were extemporaneous — born of the 
occasion on which they were made. He had no 
use for manuscript or notes in the pulpit, and had 
but little pleasure in the use of the former by 
others. Written sermons he held to be out of place 
in the Methodist pulpit; and he has been heard to 
lament the disposition manifested in our younger 
ministry thus to shackle themselves and cripple their 
powers. And while he has set us an example of 
diligent study and thorough preparation when op- 
portunity was afforded, he has set us an example too 
of perfect freedom from the bondage of the manu- 
script. In that freedom he rejoiced " as a strong man 
to run a race " — often rising to the noblest heights of 
Christian eloquence under the inspiration of the 
moment. But whether he spoke after elaborate 
preparation or extemporaneously, there was always 
a transparent thoroughness of conviction, and single- 
ness of aim. He believed, and therefore he spoke. 

He preached not only what he believed, but all 
that he believed to be contained in the gospel. Many 
of you have no doubt heard of his memorable sermon 
on the text — " Wherefore I take you to record this 
day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For 
I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel 
of God " — in which, with a majesty as of inspiration, 
he proclaimed and vindicated his fidelity as an am- 
bassador of Jesus Christ. In the conversation to which 



j jo True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

allusion has been made, he said : " I have preached 
the truth as I understood and believed it. I have 
preached the whole truth. I have not knowingly 
withheld any part of the truth:" then, clasping his 
hands and closing his eyes, he made a solemn appeal 
to heaven in the Psalmist's words : " I have preached 
righteousness in the great congregation : lo, I have 
not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I 
have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I 
have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I 
have not concealed thy loving-kindness and thy truth 
from the great congregation." Oh, to be able to 
look back from a bed of death over a ministry of 
more than fifty years and thus appeal to God to 
witness his entire fidelity! There w T as a moral 
grandeur in the scene like that on the shore of 
Tiberias when Peter appealed to Jesus to witness his 
love. It resembled and equaled the triumph of Paul 
when he wrote : " I have fought a good fight, I have 
finished my course, I have kept the faith." To 
witness such a scene is an unspeakable privilege; to 
be the subject of it is an unspeakable glory. 

The crowning honor of the gospel minister is his 
unswerving fidelity to his convictions of divine truth. 
It is idle to say that such fidelity costs no struggle. 
There are temptations to modify, soften, withhold 
some part of the truth in order to please ears polite, 
or conciliate certain classes of hearers; to overshadow 
some vital but unpalatable doctrine by magnifying 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. jji 

some other and more agreeable one beyond its due 
proportions and relations; to preach the gospel of 
sentiment rather than of doctrine, and of precept 
rather than of promise, of love to the exclusion of 
justice, and of the fatherhood to the neglect of the 
sovereignty of God; to preach the dignity of human 
nature instead of its depravity, its strength instead 
of its impotence, and will-power instead of a divine 
faith and the regeneration of the Holy Ghost. To 
stand firm against every such temptation and to come 
to the close of life with the consciousness that we 
have been perfectly true to Jesus Christ and His word 
demands a moral heroism and is an achievement 
possible only to absoluteness of consecration and 
conviction. In the Bishop's testimony — " I believed, 
and therefore have I spoken " — is the secret of this 
fidelity and its crown. 

To the eloquence with which he spoke tens of 
thousands are ready to bear witness. In all the 
domain of Southern Methodism his voice has been 
heard, and has not failed to instruct, charm, and often 
overwhelm the listening multitudes. 

A man may be eloquent without the graces of 
oratory. Rude in speech and manner, he may, never- 
theless, like Peter the Hermit, by the fire of his zeal 
inflame and sway the passions and control the actions 
of his auditory. But Bishop Doggett was wanting 
in none of those graces. There was an unaffected 
dignity of mien that itself commanded attention. 



332 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



There was a gracefulness of movement and gesture, 
a uniform pleasantness of expression, a kindling of 
the eye and a glowing of the countenance as he 
warmed with his theme, that excited interest and 
admiration. The sluggish hearer, though the course 
of thought might be sweeping beyond his range, 
would often be interested through sympathy with 
the manifest interest of the speaker. In his earlier 
years, and in a remarkable degree to the last, he had 
a voice of peculiar sweetness, clearness and compass; 
and this side the music of the spheres and the songs 
of the angels there is no music so sweet, melting, 
moving, enrapturing as that of the human voice. 

To these gifts he added intellectual power. His 
mind was disciplined by careful culture, and enriched 
by varied and extensive learning. He had in an 
unusual degree the faculty of abstraction and con- 
centration. His intellectual treasures were all at 
his command. His perceptions of the relation of 
truths one to another and in their application were 
characterized by the greatest delicacy, yet by the 
greatest clearness. His powers of analysis have never 
been surpassed in the Southern Methodist pulpit. 
Little, if any, less profound then Richard Watson, 
he was equally accurate in his discriminations and of 
greater perspicuity in his statement and elaboration 
of the truth. His style was as pure as Addison's and 
rich as Macaulay's 

He had a vivid imagination and a refined taste. 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



His appreciation of the beautiful and the sublime 
was delicate and profound. There was nothing of 
the tawdry tinsel of fancy about his sermons; but 
there was often the glow of a fervid imagination. 
His pictures were not overwrought, but natural and 
chaste, pleasant to the most cultivated eye, and often 
alive with pathos and power. We have seen him as 
he laid the foundation of his structure and built up 
its walls of massive argument until its capstone was 
brought on, then, as it were, walk about it for a 
moment, as if to mark it bulwarks and tell its towers, 
and then, with the flaming torch of his imagination, 
light up the whole from foundation to dome so that 
it stood out before you as the perfection of sermonic 
beauty and power. 

His earnestness was always manifest. With his 
strength of conviction he could not be otherwise than 
earnest. Its reality made sin and hell, and holiness 
and heaven, realities also. And with his experience 
of the power of the cross and the earnest of the 
inheritance, and his conception of the enormity of 
sin and the terrors of damnation, it had been strange 
indeed had he not put the fire and energy of his soul 
into his pulpit ministrations. Had other elements 
been wanting, his earnestness would have made him 
eloquent. 

It is not surprising, then, that there was power in 
his preaching. With all necessary physical gifts, with 
intellectual power, a refined taste, elegance of diction, 



334- 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



wealth of illustration, active sensibilities, impassioned 
earnestness, and underneath, running through and 
inspiring all, a conviction of the truth more steadfast 
than the foundations of the earth, there must be 
eloquence in its loftiest forms. Add to all this the im- 
mutable word of promise — " Lo, I am with you 
alway," and there must be spiritual power in its 
highest and loftiest manifestations. That preaching 
under such conditions should be powerless is simply 
inconceivable. 

Said he : " I may have been ambitious. But I have 
not been ambitious for place. I never sought place. 
I never asked the influence of any one to secure me 
place. But I have been ambitious to excel in 
preaching. I desired and endeavored to preach just 
as well as I possibly could with the powers that God 
had given me." A glorious ambition ! not only allow- 
able in the Christian minister, but demanded by his 
vows of consecration. No consecration is complete 
which does not involve the desire, purpose and effort 
to do God's work as well as is possible with the 
powers that He has bestowed. No man is clear who 
gains only two talents for his Lord when he might 
gain five. That Bishop Doggett did excel in preach- 
ing, the entire church will bear witness. Few have 
equaled and fewer still have surpassed him in elo- 
quence and power, or combined in themselves so 
many of the essential elements of a great preacher 
of " the righteousness of faith." 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. jjs 



There are many traditions in the church of his 
power in his earlier years. The multitudes, attracted 
by his fame, flocked to the camps in the wilderness 
to hear him. They hung with rapt attention on his 
words. Sometimes they would bend and bow before 
him like the forest before a storm. Sometimes they 
would start to their feet as if shocked by an electric 
bolt. Sinners would turn pale and, trembling like the 
jailor of Philippi, fall on their faces and shriek for 
mercy. Troubled hearts would be made glad; saints 
would shout for joy; the enemies of the Lord would 
be dismayed and scattered, and Israel triumph 
gloriously. We can never forget his sermon on 
" Power from on high," preached thirteen years ago 
at a Conference in Petersburg. As he approached 
the close of the discourse, the Power came upon him; 
he was filled with the Holy Ghost; his face became 
radiant with the light of the holy fire within; every 
movement, look, utterance and tone gave token of the 
deepest joy and exultation of soul. From him the 
mighty influence went out over the vast audience, sub- 
duing and melting all hearts and suffusing all eyes 
with tears. There wanted only the " sound from 
heaven," and the " cloven tongues like as of fire," 
to crown the day as a second Pentecost. He believed, 
and therefore he spoke with power. 

The final result of such faith and such fidelity could 
not be doubtful. ' " Mark the perfect man, and behold 
the upright : for the end of that man is peace." 



Jj6 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



Greater peace, more complete assurance in prospect 
of death, than that which he enjoyed has seldom 
fallen to the lot of God's saints. As the interview 
so frequently referred to terminated, he said: "I 
want you to kneel down and pray for me, that I may 
have the peace of the gospel, and that I may be 
sustained in my afflictions.'' " Have you not that 
peace. Bishop?" I asked. "Yes; I have;" said he. 
" And are you not sustained? '*' "Yes; wonderfully 
sustained,''' was his response: and he added with in- 
creased emphasis : " I am wonderfully sustained — 
and what could so sustain me but the mighty power 
of God the Holy Ghost ! " As may well be supposed, 
the prayer on the occasion was one of thanksgiving 
to God for the power and glory of His grace rather 
than of supplication. 

To another, who spoke to him encouragingly of his 
recovery, he said : " I have gone too far now to come 
back. I prefer to go through, and step out on the 
golden shore dressed in the robe of my immortality ! " 
The final moment came at last. God had already 
sweetly whispered in his soul concerning his labors — 
" Well done, good and faithful servant; " for said he: 
" I feel that God accepts my work." And now he 
has suffered enough. He is ready for his crown. 
And the chariot of God swept down from the skies, 
drawn by steeds swifter than the lightning's wing; for 
a moment it tarried at his bedside, while ministering 
angels gathered around and helped him put off his 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 337 

mortality and put on his ascension robes : and then 
away, and up, up, through the gates into the eternal 
city ! Before the first wail of anguish has died away 
from the lips of the strickened ones, in the goodly 
company of the just made perfect, his voice, already 
attuned to the harmonies of heaven, is swelling the 
alleluias of redemption. 

A like faith in God's word and like fidelity to truth 
and duty will crown us with a like glory. 



Paul, the Christian Apostle. 



" Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but byjesus Christ, and God 
the Father, who raised him from the dead)." — Gal. i, i. 

It is impossible to fix the exact date of Saul's con- 
version. Some chronologists place it as early as the 
year A. D. 33; others as late as A. D. 44. The pre- 
ponderance of authority is in favor of the year 36 
or 37. 

After a brief sojourn with the disciples in Damas- 
cus, he went into Arabia; to what point, and for what 
specific purpose, is not known. It is supposed that 
his object was not to preach the gospel, but to enjoy 
a season of undisturbed communion with God, and 
preparation for his work. He remained there between 
two and three years, then returned to Damascus, and 
went thence to Jerusalem to see, or make the ac- 
quaintance of Peter, and the other apostles. They 
were acquainted with his past history as a persecutor, 
and knew not, except perhaps from rumor, of his con- 
version; hence when he " assayed to join himself to 
the disciples, they were afraid of him," and would 
not receive him into their company until Barnabas 
vouched for his sincerity and the genuineness of his 
faith. Then Peter and James, the only apostles at 

[338] 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. jjp' 

that time in Jerusalem, gave him the right hand of 
fellowship. He abode with Peter fifteen days, and 
then departed into Syria and Cilicia and came to his 
old home in Tarsus. 

In the mean time, under the preaching of certain 
men of Cyprus and Cyrene, there was a great awaken- 
ing and turning of the people to Christ at Antioch in 
Syria. Barnabas was sent from Jerusalem to superin- 
tend this movement, and to husband its fruits. He 
soon found the work of such magnitude that he was 
unable alone to meet its demands. But for some 
reason he did not look to Jerusalem for help, or 
consult Peter or James in the emergency. He 
probably knew Saul somewhat intimately; and feeling 
that he was the man for the occasion, he went to 
Tarsus, sought him out, and brought him to Antioch. 
Saul entered heartily into this work. " It came to 
pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves 
with the church and taught much people." 

The time had now come for the more formal and 
authoritative inauguration of the missionary work of 
the church. Antioch had become the metropolis of 
Gentile Christendom, and true to its position it begins 
the great movement. Under the direction of the 
Holy Ghost, the elders of the church separated 
Barnabas and Saul for the work among the Gentiles, 
laid their hands on them and sent them away. 

This may be regarded as the starting point of the 
mission proper of the great apostle. During the 



34-0 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

five years that had passed since his conversion he had 
not been entirely idle; but what evangelistic work he 
had done had been directed chiefly to the salvation 
of his own countrymen. Henceforth his watchword 
is to be : The whole world for Christ, without distinction 
of nation, tribe, or tongue. 

I. HIS COMMISSION. 

As it was antecedently improbable that, without 
some overwhelming demonstration of the truth of 
Christianity, such a man as he would never become 
obedient to the faith, so it is improbable that he 
would enter on the w T ork in which he now engages 
without incontestible evidence that such was the 
will of God — evidence such as justified him in styling 
himself " an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but 
by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him 
from the dead." 

If we examine his credentials we find that his call 
to this work dated from his conversion. According 
to his own statement made before Herod Agrippa, 
While he yet lay upon the ground at Damascus, the 
Lord said unto him, " I have appeared unto thee for 
this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness 
both of these things which thou hast seen, and of 
those things in which I will appear unto thee; de- 
livering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, 
unto whom I now send thee, to open their eyes, and 
turn them from darkness to light, and from the 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 341 

power of Satan unto God." Three years later, while 
he was engaged in prayer in the temple, the Lord 
appeared to him, and said, " Make haste, and get thee 

out of Jerusalem for I will send thee far 

hence unto the Gentiles." Thus was this ministry 
committed to him, not by those who were in the 
apostleship before him, but by the Lord Jesus him- 
self. And so clear was the revelation and so impera- 
tive was the command, that he could never question 
its source or its import. He went through life with 
the abiding conviction of his divine designation to 
the office of apostle, and of his complete equality with 
those who were called by the Master in the days of his 
flesh. 

In further illustration of his authority he says to 
the Galatians : " The gospel which was preached of 
me is not after man. For I neither received it of 
man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation 
of Jesus Christ." He who sent him as his ambassador 
to the world, gave him his message. By direct com- 
munion with him, Christ unfolded in his mind and 
heart the true spiritual significance of his death and 
resurrection, as well as the deeper mysteries, and 
profounder harmonies, and glorious issues of his 
redemptive work. His conviction that both his call 
and his doctrine. came through no human channel 
but immediately from Christ the Head, was one chief 
element of his power as a preacher, and one of the 
mainsprings of his wonderful enthusiasm and energy. 



j/f.2 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



II. THE SPHERE OF HIS APOSTOLIC LABORS IS 
CLEARLY DEFINED. 

As Peter was the apostle of the circumcision, so, 
-said Paul, " unto me is this grace given that I might 
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of 
Christ." The Gentiles comprised all the nations of 
.the earth, the Jews only excepted. Theirs was the 
wisdom and power, and material splendor of the 
world; but theirs also was its moral and spiritual 
darkness and desolation. Idolatry reigned every- 
where. There were profound studies in philosophy, 
glorious achievements in literature and art, matchless 
oratory, brilliant statesmanship, military skill and 
triumphs, and varied, far reaching, and lucrative 
commerce. But these all laid their trophies on idol 
shrines. The grandest products of genius and wealth 
were images and temples in honor of " lords many 
and gods many." This idolatry necessarily resulted 
in every form of impurity. How could it be other- 
wise when the highest objects of worship were 
examples and patrons of the most infamous vices? 
It was but a natural consequence that the people 
should be " filled with all unrighteousness, fornica- 
tion, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of 
envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 
backbiters, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of 
evil things, disobedient to parents, without under- 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 34.3 

standing, covenant breakers, without natural affection, 
implacable, unmerciful." No worldly wisdom or 
power can successfully resist the demoralizing in- 
fluences of an impure worship, or stem the current 
of vice and wretchedness to which it gives sanction. 
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle may moralize, and the 
people may applaud their wisdom; but while Jupiter, 
Apollo, Mars and Venus are patrons of licentiousness 
the people will give a loose rein to vile affections, 
and work all uncleanness with greediness. 

Into this region and shadow of death Saul must 
enter; in this darkness he must enkindle the light of 
life. And he must go penniless; there is no wealthy 
church at home to supply his wants; nay, the mother 
church is still, to a great degree, in bondage to the 
spirit of Jewish exclusiveness. He must go with 
no assurance of sympathy and no pledge of protection 
save the word: "Lo, I am with you always, even 
unto the end of the world." Any soul less de- 
termined, any heart less aflame with holy love and zeal 
than his would have quailed and shrunk back from an 
enterprise of such magnitude and peril. But he 
could not take counsel of the suggestions of worldly 
prudence. The Captain of salvation had given the 
word of command, and true soldier as he was, he 
recognized obedience as his first and highest duty.* 

Time would fail us to relate the incidents of his 
travels and preaching, or even to name the places he 
visited and the churches he established. It is enough 



344. True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

to say that throughout Asia Minor, in the ^Egean 
Isles, in Turkey, in Greece, and finally in Rome — 
and some maintain, in Spain and Britain — he pro- 
claimed the glad tidings of salvation. His active 
ministry among the Gentiles embraced a period of 
little more than twenty years. But no twenty years 
of any human life have been more crowded with 
beneficent work, or more fruitful of good to our 
race. Indeed the fruits of that work are perennial; 
every day, for eighteen centuries, the angel reapers 
have been gathering from the fields of the world the 
harvest of his sowing. 

III. A life and ministry of such magnificent and 
enduring results must have been marked of excep- 
tional excellence and power. There must have been 
in him a grand and happy combination of natural and 
gracious endowments whereby, above all other men 
of his era, he was enabled to impress the mind and 
heart and give impetus and tone to the religious 
thought of his own and all subsequent ages. We 
may name some of the more prominent of these 
qualities. 

i. It is evident that he was in no wise indebted 
to the merely physical for his power. His body was 
diminutive ; hence, say some, the change of his name 
from the Hebrew Saul to the Latin Paalus, (little). 
He is believed to have been disfigured by some physi- 
cal deformity which provoked the contempt of his 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 34.5 



enemies. His own words prove that he suffered 
much from some bodily infirmity. 

2. But in that frail and suffering body was a great 
intellect. Its powers were unfolded and strengthened 
by years of diligent study, and enriched with the 
treasures of history, poetry, philosophy, and religion. 
He could reason equally well with the doctors of 
Jerusalem, the sages of Athens, and the scoffers of 
Corinth. He had a mouth and wisdom which none 
could successfully gainsay or resist. The men of 
Lystra mistook him for Mercury, the god of elo- 
quence, and were about to pay him divine honors. 
Felix, trembling on his seat of power gave proof of 
his consummate ability as an orator. The high priest 
at Jerusalem blanched under his terrible rebuke. The 
Sanhedrim was outwitted by his dialectic skill. 
Festus bore witness to his " much learning; " and 
petty Gentile tribunals were covered with confusion 
before him. Surely no ordinary gifts could have 
carried him triumphantly through the ordeals to 
which he was subjected and won his way up to the 
very throne of the Caesars. 

3. The character of his message of course had 
much to do with his success, yet not everything; for 
other inspired men had the same message, but left 
no such impression on the world. With respect to 
that message we are told that it was " a stumbling- 
block to the Jews. and to the Greeks foolishness." 
Yet is was just what the world needed, and for which 



346 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

the great throbbing heart of humanity in its oppres- 
sion and hopelessness had been yearning — tidings 
of " a Saviour which is Christ the Lord " — tidings 
of the Heavenly Father whose face had been so long 
hidden and of reconciliation and rest, of life and 
immortality. 

All the apostle's great powers were completely 
surcharged with this message. He knew its truth, 
he had felt its power, and had a sweet experience of 
its preciousness. In comparison with it everything 
else was to him but dross. It was to him sweeter 
than life and stronger than death. " I count not my 
life dear unto myself so that I might finish my course 
with joy and the ministry which I have received to 
testify the gospel of the grace of God." With such 
completeness of consecration and such wealth of 
experience it is no marvel that his word was with 
power. 

4. In the delivery of his message he was trans- 
parently honest; true to his Maker, true to his own 
soul, true to the souls of his hearers. There was no 
rhetorical tinsel merely to please the fancy; no logi- 
cal or metaphysical subtleties to divert the reason and 
bewilder the judgment. His object was not simply 
to entertain them, far less to win their applause. To 
have prostituted his commission to such an end 
would have been no less repugnant to his own char- 
acter than offensive to his Lord. His business was 
to preach repentance and remission of sins through 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 347 

a crucified but risen and exalted Saviour, " and to 
make all men see what is the fellowship of the 
mystery, which, from the beginning of the world hath 
been hid in God, to the intent that now unto the prin- 
cipalities and powers in the heavenly places might 
be made known by the church the manifold wisdom 
of God." While his errand was to men, he saw that 
the powers on high were to be affected by its issues. 
What an incentive to fidelity to his trust ! How could 
he, how can any minister of the gospel have any 
other aim than the spiritual illumination of the 
people, their edification and salvation, and by this 
means the glorifying of Christ and swelling the joys 
of the virtuous universe? And how truly this 
was his sole ambition is abundantly evidenced in 
his letters. No man could go further in self- 
abnegation than to wish himself accursed for his 
kinsmen's sake, or glory in infinity and suffering 
that Christ might be magnified. It is not surprising 
that he kept back nothing that was " profitable for 
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction 
in righteousness," and that looking back over his 
ministry he could say to the Ephesian elders, " I take 
you to record this day that I am pure from the 
hlood of all men; for I have not shunned to declare 
unto you the whole counsel of God." He held no 
parley with unbelief and made no concessions to the 
•spirit of the world, and was never overawed by the 
tumults of the people or the frowns of royalty. As 



348 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

the truth is in Jesus, unadulterated with human 
admixture, he proclaimed it alike to Jew and Gentile, 
Barbarian, Scythian, bond and free. 

5. But his fidelity was not surpassed by his humility. 
He could never forget that he was a sinner saved 
by grace, and that with all his gifts and success he 
had nothing whereof to boast. God in pure mercy 
had called him with an holy calling, and with the 
memory of that mercy living in his soul, there could 
be no self-gratulation, no pharisaic superciliousness 
or vainglory. He characterizes himself as the least 
of all saints, and made himself all things to all men 
that he might by all means save some. To take the 
miserable outcasts by the hand and lift them up into 
the sunshine of God's favor was a work no less 
worthy his time and care than the conversion of a 
philosopher or king. To sit down with the fisherman 
in his poverty, or the widow in her sorrow and tell 
them of Jesus and his love was a joy to his soul no 
less rich than to preach in Caesar's household, or 
before the high court of Athens. 

6. And his gentleness and compassion equalled 
his humility. He was a man of robust intellect and 
marvelous energy of character, but a man of great 
heart as well. A vein of tenderness pervades his 
life and manifests itself in well-nigh all his sermons 
and letters. " We were gentle among you," said he, 
" even as a nurse cherisheth the children; so being 
affectionally desirous of you, we were willing to have 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 34.9 

imparted unto you not the gospel of God only, but 
our own souls, because ye were dear unto us." 
Speaking of the enemies of the Cross, he says : " Of 
whom I have told you often and now tell you even 
weeping" He wept, but not for himself; his tears 
were not selfish; but tears of sympathy, like those of 
Jesus at the grave of Lazarus; like those Jesus wept 
over doomed Jerusalem. What a beautiful character- 
istic ! The spirit of a martyr in union with the tender- 
ness of a woman ! In intellect a giant, in heart the 
softness and sweetness of a child ! 

7. His patience and perseverance were as constant 
as his tenderness was affecting. No man ever en- 
countered more powerful and violent opposition than 
he. But such opposition never provoked impa- 
tience, or awakened a spirit of resentment, or for a 
moment shook his steadfastness, or turned him aside 
from his work. No danger, however threatening; 
no hardships, however grievous; no affliction, how- 
ever heart-breaking, could chill his ardour or damp 
his zeal. But from the beginning of his missionary 
toil, with a diligence that never wavered, and an 
energy that never relaxed into inactivity, and a devo- 
tion that never found time for worldly ease, he 
pressed unflinchingly on in the mighty enterprise 
of bringing the world to Christ. The Master said, 
"I must work while it is day;" and the servant, 
animated by the same spirit, could say, " I ceased 
not to warn the people clay and night. None of my 



35° True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

precious hours have run to waste. All, all have been 
given to the work entrusted to my hands." Glorious 
testimony! Had all his successors in the ministry 
measured up to his standard of diligence and heroic 
endurance, the kingdoms of this world would long 
ago have become the kingdoms of our God and his 
Christ. 

8. Nor can we doubt that the sufferings through 
which he passed contributed greatly to the develop- 
ment, elevation, and enrichment of his character. 
From the hour of his conversion he had been a 
sufferer. His soul was steeped in affliction; and not 
hardened but softened and subdued by it. Like 
Jesus, " He learned obedience by the things he suf- 
fered." He entered into the fellowship of Christ's 
sufferings, and thereby learned to long for the fellow- 
ship of his glory. Oh, there is good, and to the 
man of God the highest good, in the ills of life ! 

Trial when it weighs severely 
Stamps the Saviour's image clearly, 

On the hearts of all his friends; 
In the frame his hands have moulded, 
Is the future life unfolded 

Through the suffering which he sends. 

Suffering curbs our wayward passions 
Childlike tempers in us fashions 

And our will to his subdues; 
Thus his hand so soft and healing, 
Each disordered power and feeling 

By a blessed change renews. 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 351 

Suffering keeps the thoughts compacted 
That the soul be not distracted 

By the world's beguiling art; 
"Tis like some angelic warder 
Kver keeping sacred order 

In the chambers of the heart. 

Suffering tunes the heart's emotion 
To eternity's devotion, 

And awakes a fond desire 
For the land where psalms are ringing 
And with palms the martyrs singing 

Sweetly to the harper's choir. 

With such an experience we are not surprised that 
he should account it a happy privilege not only to 
believe on Christ " but also to suffer for his sake." 
Every rude blast only drove him nearer the Rock of 
Ages, and every swelling billow only lifted him the 
higher above the earth and nearer the heaven of his 
hopes. The last wave came at length, and on its 
shining crest he was borne in safety to the golden 
shore. 

With such a commission, such a message, such a 
field, such qualities of mind and heart, and such 
fidelity and devotion, 'tis no marvel that " he being 
dead yet speaketh." His voice is still heard on earth 
as the preacher of the righteousness of faith; and to 
the end of time will he continue to testify of the 
grace of God to the nations, and to win trophies to 
the cross of Christ. 

Ours is a far humbler sphere of toil; and ours are 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



far more limited abilities. But fidelity to our Master 
and diligence in the use of our one talent will win 
His commendation and a heavenly reward; and while 
Paul shines as the stars, we may shine as the bright- 
ness of the firmament forever. 




MAIN-STREET M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH, DANVILLE, VA. 



Judas Iscariot. 



" Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of 
the twelve. And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and 
captains, how he might betray him unto them. And they were glad and cove- 
nanted to give him money. And he promised and sought opportunity to betray 
him unto them in the absence of the multitude." — Luke xxii, 3-6. 

About twenty-five miles South of Jerusalem are 
the ruins of an ancient city. This has been identified 
by modern explorers as the city of Kerioth, and is 
believed to have been the birthplace of Judas. He 
is called Iscariot, that is the man of Kerioth. He is 
also called " the son of Simon; " the New Version 
reads, " the son of Simon Iscariot," thus indicating 
that Kerioth was, and probably had been for genera- 
tions, the home of his fathers. 

Of the history of his early life we know nothing. 
His home was, no doubt, an humble one. He grew 
up in obscurity, and gave neither by conspicuous 
virtues nor by notorious vices any indication of either 
the dignity or the infamy that awaited him. 

His name first appears in Sacred Story in the 
account of the calling and the commissioning of the 
twelve apostles. But he had been with Christ before 
this time. He had heard him with interest and ap- 
proval, and had united with his followers as a disciple. 

[353] 



354- True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

It was from discipleship that he was advanced to 
apostleship. He had been a learner. Now he is sent 
forth to be a teacher of others. 

The purpose of Christ in choosing the twelve was 
that they might be constantly with him as eye wit- 
nesses of his miracles, and as hearers of his public 
discourses and his private expositions of the mys- 
teries of the kingdom of God, and thus be prepared 
to bear testimony to his character and works and to 
preach his truth. 

Our Lord felt deeply the solemnity and im- 
portance of this movement. He spent the whole 
night preceding the choice of the twelve in prayer. 
The men chosen were to preach his doctrine while he 
lived and to be his witnesses and representatives 
after his death. On them would depend, in large 
measure, the consistency, order, stability and success 
of the w r ork which he was inaugurating. They were 
to develop and direct the spiritual forces of the infant 
church, and instruct and equip her for her world- 
saving mission. 

After a night spent in prayer and with such a- 
purpose in the choice of the twelve, he named Judas 
for this high office and dignity. He gave him pre- 
cisely the same commission that he gave to Peter and 
the rest: " As ye go, preach, saying, the kingdom of 
heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, 
raise the dead, cast out devils; freely ye have received, 
freely give." He gave him the same promises of 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 355 

divine protection, blessing and reward. He identi- 
fied himself personally with Judas, saying : " He that 
receiveth you receiveth me " — " he that heareth you 
heareth me." 

Thus called, commissioned and endowed, Judas 
took his place in the college of apostles, and so far 
as we know, did his work as faithfully and as accept- 
ably to Christ as any of his brethren. Like them, 
he was " unlearned and ignorant," and deeply in- 
fected with Jewish prejudices, and incapable of rising 
up to the sublime conception of a purely spiritual 
kingdom. They were all " fools and slow of heart 
to believe," and often gave proof of the narrowness 
and grossness of their views and the worldliness of 
their spirit. But there is nothing to show that Judas 
was one whit worse in these respects than the rest. 

A year, perhaps more, has passed since their call, 
when Jesus in conversation with them said : " Have 
I not chosen you twelve? And one of you is a devil." 
It is strange that this saying did not, at the time, 
arrest attention and awaken inquiry. Sixty years 
afterwards, John recalling these words, says, " He 
spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon." If John 
had expressed an opinion at the time of the utterance 
of the words, he would perhaps have said, " The 
master speaketh of Peter; for not long ago he said 
to him, ' get thee behind me Satan, thou art an 
offence to me.' " Again, when a few days before the 
death of Christ, Mary poured upon him the precious 



35$ 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



ointment, Matthew says: " When the disciples saw it 
they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is 
this waste? For this ointment might have been sold 
for much, and given to the poor." Mark says. 
" There were some that had indignation, and mur- 
mured against her." John singles out Judas as the 
only objector, and gives as the reason of his objection 
that " he was thief, and had the bag, and bare what 
was therein." But all such interpretations of his acts 
and reflections on his character dated many years 
after his death. There seems to have been nothing 
in his spirit or conduct up to the last supper that 
shook their confidence in him. When the Lord 
said, " One of you shall betray me," each one appears 
to have suspected himself as much as any one else. 
Up to this time Judas was their trusted treasurer. 
They had no suspicion of fraud, or embezzlement of 
the common fund, and no dream of a traitorous pur- 
pose on his part towards their Lord. Their relations 
with him were those of cordial friendship and 
brotherhood. 

The natural conclusion from these facts is that he 
was either the most consummate of hypocrites, and 
during three years of intimate association with his 
brother disciples had so completely disguised his 
hypocrisy as to awake no suspicion of insincerity, 
or else, at least at the outset of his public life, he 
was a sincere, upright man. Jesus knew all men. 
He understood Judas thoroughly. That he would 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. JS7 

deliberately put one whom he knew to be a bad man 
into the holy office we are not prepared to believe. 
He could not have put him there simply " that he 
might become the fatal instrument for the accom- 
plishment of a mysterious decree." This would have 
been a subversion of moral order, and would have 
made the subsequent crime of Judas a necessity. 
Christ would have thus led him into temptation by 
putting him in the way and giving him the oppor- 
tunity to commit a crime of which otherwise he 
would never have been guilty. On such a supposition 
Jesus himself would have become accessory to the 
sin of Judas. 

We believe that when he was called to the apostle- 
ship he was a good man at least in the sense in which 
the others were good men. As in them so in him 
there was a commixture of good and evil tenden- 
cies, the good at the time predominating and giving 
promise of complete victory over the evil. On him- 
self under the influence of Jesus depended the vic- 
tory. An evil force lurks in every unsanctified soul. 
It is for the human will to resist and subdue this force, 
or to turn it loose. Eleven of the disciples resisted 
it and were safe; one yielded to it and fell. He did 
not yield because it had been decreed that he should 
do so; if so, then he would have been guiltless and 
the responsibility for his act would have been trans- 
ferred to God. Certain prophecies were fulfilled or 
illustrated by his treachery, but they did not, could 



358 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

not cause it. Of his own free will he betrayed his 
Master. It is true Satan entered into him and 
quickened and intensified the forces of evil within 
him. But he was free, and might have resisted suc- 
cessfully all the power of the prince of darkness, and 
might have been as steadfast and as true to his Lord 
as John or James. 

In his intercessory prayer, Jesus said, " Those that 
thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, 
but the son of perdition." The Father gave Judas 
to the Son just as he gave him Peter, James, and 
John. But he was lost, Why? St. Augustine, quoted 
by Clarke, answers : " Because he would not be 
saved; " and he further adds, " After the commission 
of his crime he might have returned to God and have 
found mercy." Calmet, quoted by the same author, 
says, " Judas only became the son of perdition be- 
cause of his wilful malice, his abuse of the grace and 
instructions of Christ, and was condemned through 
his own avarice, perfidy, insensibility, and despair." 
These illustrious men, staunch advocates, the former 
especially so, of the doctrine of divine foreordination, 
thus strenuously assert the moral freedom of Judas 
in betraying his Master. His was the crime, his the 
guilt and punishment. 

It is useless for us to attempt to reconcile the free 
agency of Judas and Christ's foreknowledge of his 
treachery. It is one of the mysteries of God's moral 
government involving the whole problem of his re- 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. jjp 

lation to the origin of sin and of his foreknowledge 
to human freedom. No system of philosophy can 
solve it. Revelation does not solve it. Possibly in 
the clearer light and with the higher expansion of 
our powers in the world to come we may gain some 
insight into the mystery. That man is a moral agent, 
reason, consciousness, revelation, all attest. And this 
is the truth of supremest concern to us. Christ, as 
divine, knew that Judas would betray him. But 
Judas did not betray him because of his foreknowledge 
but of his own deliberate choice. He was drawn 
away of his own lust, and enticed; cherishing instead 
of resisting the enticement, his lust conceived and 
brought forth sin, and sin, when it was finished, 
brought forth death. 

When therefore, we speak of the fall of Judas, we 
mean more than his fall from his high office as an 
apostle. He fell from his place as one given to Christ 
by the Father — from his place as one dearer to Christ 
than his mother or brethren — from his love of Christ 
and his brother disciples — from all of the goodness 
and grace that he had acquired during the years of 
his association with Christ. 

There were two causes contributing to his down- 
fall: 

I. The disappointment of his worldly expectations. 
In common with the rest he thought the kingdom of 
Messiah would be secular. This was the prevailing 
idea of the best men of Judaism. It was the idea of 



j6o True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



all the apostles until after the resurrection. They 
discussed the matter among themselves, and even 
John, the most spiritual man among them, had an 
unseemly discussion with James as to which should 
have the highest office in the coming kingdom. 
With a sincere attachment to the person of his 
Master, Judas united a worldly ambition. But as 
time passed on, he saw.no signs of the realization of 
his hopes. On the contrary he saw his Master reso- 
lutely setting his face against worldly preferment. 
He took no advantage of the currents of popular 
favor; he never used his extraordinary powers to 
advance his kingly claims; but more and more plainly 
declared the pure spirituality of his kingdom, and 
the certainty and necessity of his death in order to 
its establishment. Holding his views of Messiah and 
his kingdom honestly and religiously, it is not diffi- 
cult to see that doctrines so completely at variance 
with them would weaken his faith in Jesus. Indeed 
the faith of all of them seemed to suffer a sad eclipse 
when Jesus died. And cherishing as he believed, 
well-grounded hopes of advancement in the kingdom 
of Messiah, when he saw that these hopes were 
doomed to complete disappointment, he was gradu- 
ally weaned and alienated from Christ as from one 
who had failed to meet his expectations; and under 
the influence of bitter disappointment, and in the 
spirit of resentment he delivered him to his enemies. 
Some expositors hold that he was- actuated by 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. j6i 

impatience rather than resentment. He was anxious 
that Christ should at once take to himself his great 
power and reign. His aim was to hasten the issue, 
believing that Christ by his power would deliver 
himself and demonstrate to the Sanhedrim and to the 
civil powers the truth of his royal claims. Thus his 
worldly ambitions would be the more quickly real- 
ized. 

2. Another motive strangely emphasized by some 
was his love of money. He was the treasurer of the 
disciples. Handling the money woke up the dormant 
love of it. Little by little he abstracted from the 
common purse for private use. As he did so without 
detection, or suspicion, the unholy passion strength- 
ened and his pilfering correspondingly increased. 
At last his avarice found occasion for emphatic ex- 
pression. It was on the festive night in Bethany when 
Mary with her precious spikenard anointed her Lord 
for his burial. " Why this waste? " said he," this 
ointment might have been sold for three hundred 
pence, and given to the poor." That very night he 
went to the chief priests and entered into negotiations 
with them. By the sale of his Master his avarice 
would reap what it had lost by the waste of the oint- 
ment. A few days later, Satan having entered into 
and taken complete possession of him, he consum- 
mated the bargain, and for thirty pieces of silver 
delivered Jesus into the hands of his enemies. 

And now comes the end. Retribution had been 
23 



3&' 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



stealthily creeping along after him. as it does after 
ever}- man. as he advanced in sin. He heard not 
the tread of its furred feet, and saw not its glare of 
fire. But no sooner does he reach the final act in 
the tragedy than he feels its breath of flame in every 
chamber of his being and its talons tearing his " soul 
asunder with most tormenting fear." Christ is led 
away to the judgment hall; Judas is left out in the 
darkness wrestling with a remorse blacker than the 
night and more bitter than death. When the morn- 
ing came, and he learned that Jesus was condemned. 
" he brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the 
chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned, in 
that I have betrayed the innocent blood." Why 
did they not pity the poor wretch? The ghastliness 
of his face, the wildness of his eye, the despair in his 
voice, must have revealed to them the terrific throes 
that had rent his soul during the night. But piti- 
lessly, mockingly, they replied : " What is that to 
us? See thou to that." Throwing down the money 
in the temple, he went out and hanged himself. 

And then he " went to his own place." Jesus had 
said : " The son of man goeth as it is written of him; 
but woe to the man by whom the son of man is 
^betrayed ! it had been good for that man if he had not 
"been born." His own place is one of suffering com- 
mensurate with his crime. That suffering shall be 
eternal. Better had he never been. Better could 
he now cease to be. 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 363 

Our conclusions are: 1. When Judas was called 
to the apostolate he was a sincere, upright man — not 
regenerate, but a good man in the same sense in 
which the rest, at the time of their calling, were good 
men. He had good financial and administrative abili- 
ties and was therefore entrusted with the manage- 
ment of the pecuniary interests of his Master's house- 
hold. He had good moral qualities, tendencies and 
aspirations, which under the influence and instruction 
of Jesus might have developed, had he so willed, into 
permanent supremacy over all the evil proclivities of 
his nature. 

2. He was called to do the work of an apostle, 
and not that of a traitor. He was commissioned 
to this work, and like the rest was supernaturally 
endowed for it. He did this work faithfully up to 
the closing hours of his Master's life, and for aught 
that appears to the contrary had the confidence of 
his brother disciples to the last. The stigma put 
upon his name wherever mentioned by the expres- 
sion — " which also betrayed him " — was put there 
long after his death. No such stain, nor any suspicion 
of it, rested upon him while he lived. 

3. The purpose to betray Christ originated in his 
worldly ambition and his covetousness. This pur- 
pose was of gradual formation and development, and 
did not assume definite fixedness until after Jesus 
came to Jerusalem for the last time. John says: 
" And supper being ended, the devil having now 



3 6 4 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray him; " 
again, " after the sop Satan entered into him." 
Matthew, Mark, and Luke make a similar record. 
It was not therefore a deliberate purpose of long- 
standing. There had been, no doubt, a previous 
treacherous bent or disposition of mind, and secret 
thoughts of betrayal. But the decisive resolution 
was not taken until these last hours. He now re- 
signed his will to the will of the devil, and consents 
and determines to deliver up his Lord to his enemies. 
Henceforth " he sought opportunity to betray him." 

4. The act of betrayal was accompanied with no 
defamation of the character of Christ. He was 
unquestionably a bad man; but had he been alto- 
gether bad, he might have added falsehood to treason, 
and justified his act by false accusation. Having 
been intimately associated with Christ so long, his 
testimony that he was a blasphemer, an impostor, 
a seditious person, or that he was guilt}' of evil of 
any kind, would have had, very naturally, great 
weight with the authorities. But he utters not a 
word of detraction, on the contrary, his last words 
are in vindication of the innocence of the Master 
and condemnation of himself. 

5. Xo sooner is the act done than he is filled with 
remorse. He repents and confesses his sin to the 
high priests. Had his confession been made to Jesus 
and his forgiveness sought, who will say that pardon 
would have been denied him and the door of hope for- 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 365 



ever closed against him. The same look of amazing 
pity that broke Peter's heart, would no doubt have 
been turned with even deep pity on Judas. But his, 
alas, was a sorrow of the world which worketh death. 

6. There have been Judases in every age — men 
who have eaten of Christ's bread, even at the sacra- 
mental table, and yet have lifted up the heel against 
him. There is in us an evil heart of unbelief. Unless 
its natural workings be counteracted by grace divine 
it will make us all traitors to our Lord. By faith we 
stand. If we doubt, we stumble; if we disbelieve, we 
fall. Lord, increase our faith. 



The Second Coming of Christ. 



" And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, 
two men stood by them in white apparel: which also said, Ye men of Galilee, 
why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? this same Jesus which is taken up from 
you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into 
heaven " — Acts i, 10, n. 

The Son had finished the work which the Father 
had given him to do. The fulness of the time had 
come for him to be glorified with the glory which he 
had with the Father before the world was. Having 
opened to his disciples the mysteries of the Kingdom 
of Heaven, and commissioned them to go into all 
the world and preach the gospel to every creature, 
" He led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted 
up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to 
pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, 
and carried up into heaven; " " and a cloud received 
him out of their sight." While, they with sad hearts 
and tearful eyes were gazing up into heaven, sud- 
denly there appeared unto them two men in white 
apparel. Jesus in the midst of his ascension triumph, 
could not forget the little sorrowing company which 
he had just left behind, and he dispatched these two 
angelic beings with a message to them of strength 
and cheer. Said they, " Ye men of Galilee, why stand 
ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which 

[366] 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 36 7 

is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in 
like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." 

This is not an expression of opinion, or an enun- 
ciation of abstract doctrine, but a clearly defined, 
emphatic statement of a fact — an event whose oc- 
currence is conditioned on no contingencies what- 
soever, but is as certain as if it had already come to 
pass. It is not an open question whether Christ will 
come in person a second time. There is no room 
for conjecture, or discussion. He said : " The Son 
of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his 
angels." Privately to his disciples, openly to the 
multitude and to his enemies, he declared that he 
would come again with power and great glory. The 
last words that John heard from his lips, in the 
visions of Patmos, were, " Surely I come quickly." 

The purpose of his coming is no less clearly stated 
than the fact itself. When God raised him from 
the dead and exalted him to heaven, He " set him at 
his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above 
all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, 
and every name that is named, not only in this world, 
but also in that which is to come, and put all things 
under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all 
things to the church, which is his body, the fulness 
of him that filleth all in all." It is written, also, " the 
Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all 
judgment to the Son; " and " he will judge the world 
in righteousness by that man whom he hath or- 



j68 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



dained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all 
men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." To 
Christ, in his glorified humanity, has been committed 
the administration of all the affairs of God's King- 
dom. He is Prophet and Priest, teaching, atoning, 
interceding; but he is also King of kings, and Lord 
of lords, and as such " he must reign, till he hath put 
all enemies under his feet." 

Through all the ages he has been marshalling, 
directing, and controlling all forces and agencies in 
the interest of redemption. To destroy the works 
of the devil, overthrow his dominion, and deliver 
humanity from sin and death has been the aim of all 
his movements in both providence and grace. At 
length the time comes when he can do no more. 
The last call of mercy has been refused and the last 
reproof set at nought. The last man that can be 
saved will have been saved. And now comes the 
last act of his administration, the judgment of the 
world and the allotment of final destiny to the chil- 
dren of men. Without such an act his work is un- 
finished, his administration is incomplete. Without 
it, as it seems to us, Christianity, as a system of 
religion, is without consistency, harmony and 
strength; God's ways to men are incapable of any 
satisfactory explanation; moral agency and account- 
ability are but little better than fictions; and the 
gospel but little more than a cunningly devised 
fable. 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 369 

But it is not left to reason or argument to determine 
the purpose of his coming. We have it from his 
own lips: " When the Son of man shall come in his 
glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he 
sit upon the throne of his glory : and before him shall 
be gathered all nations : and he shall separate them 
one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep 
from the goats." This separation is followed by a 
sentence of approval on the righteous and of con- 
demnation on the wicked, and the assignment of 
the latter to everlasting punishment and the former 
to eternal life. This is his account of the matter. 
We cannot refine it away, or alter, or amend it, or 
anywise discredit it, without at the same time dis- 
crediting all that he ever said or did. That his 
apostles understood this to be the purpose of his 
coming is evident from such words as these : " We 
shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ." 
" We must all appear before the judgment seat 
of Christ; that every one may receive the things 
done in his body, according to that he hath done, 
whether it be good or bad." The primary object 
of his coming, then, is the formal termination 
of his mediatorial reign with a general judgment, in 
which, with unerring wisdom, justice and goodness, 
he will assign to every individual of our race a destiny 
of weal or woe unalterable and eternal. 

This second coming of Christ held a very promi- 
nent place in the thought of the infant church. Many 



37° True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

believers looked for it in their own day. Paul uses 
such expressions as these: ''Waiting for the coming 
of our Lord Jesus Christ; " " Looking for that 
blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great 
God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; " and Peter says: 
" Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the 
day of God " — words expressive of earnest desire and 
eager anticipation. With the great body of believers 
at the present day there is comparatively little of 
such desire and expectation. While the subject has 
not entirely vanished from the faith and hope of the 
church it has been relegated to a place of minor im- 
portance. It is seldom the theme of the pulpit. If 
adverted to at all it is usually in vague and general 
terms that convey no definite idea to the hearer. 
Some treat it as a mere speculation; others, as figura- 
tive: others, as purely spiritual; all alike removing it 
entirely from the realm of the literal and actual. 

But it matters little what men in their conceit of 
superior wisdom may think or say in relation to this 
great event. God's word endureth forever. And as 
surely as He has spoken to us in that word, " the 
Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his 
mighty angels;" he "shall appear a second time 
without sin unto salvation " — appear as your judge 
and as mine, and recompense us with the glory of 
heaven or the wretchedness of hell. It is our wisdom 
to regard his second coming as no less certain, real 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 371 

and literal than his first appearing, and to hold our- 
selves in readiness for the solemn issue. 

The text directs our attention to the manner of 
his appearing. " This same Jesus which is taken up 
from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner 
as ye have seen him go into heaven." 

" This same Jesus." He who is now enthroned in 
heaven is the same Jesus who was born of the Virgin 
Mary and cradled in a manger in Bethlehem; who 
was brought up in an humble home and labored as 
a carpenter in the shops of Nazareth; who walked 
and worked and taught in Galilee, Samaria, and Jeru- 
salem; who was rejected by his countrymen as an 
impostor, crucified on Calvary, and buried in the 
tomb of Joseph. 

On the third day he arose from the dead; and 
having " shewed himself alive after his passion by 
many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty 
days," in his human body he ascended up on high. 
Through all the ages that have followed there has 
been no change in his person, or his nature. He is 
still the Son of Man, and will be forever. Amazing 
thought, that a being in human form should hold the 
reins of the universe. And now that the good 
pleasure of his goodness has been accomplished, in 
the identical form in which he lived on earth and 
ascended to heaven, he comes a second time. 

No doubt his human body still bears the marks of 
his humiliation and suffering — the prints of the nails 



37 2 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



in his hands and feet, and of the spear in his side. 
But these are the badge of his conflict and triumph, 
and the pledge of the eternal redemption obtained 
for his people. They are his glory and our security. 

There is much of comfort and cheer for the servant 
of God in the thought that Jesus, and not pure, 
absolute Deity, will be his judge. Believers though 
we be. we could not face the absolute God. But we 
are to meet a man. the God-man : one who has passed 
along the same lonely way in which we walk; who 
was often worn and weary just as we are: who often 
felt most keenly the neglect and opposition of men; 
who was tempted in all points like as we are, yet 
without sin: a man of sorrows, and acquainted with 
grief: who was made perfect through suffering, and 
who. though in the midst of the glories of heaven 
receiving the homage and loving service of its shin- 
ing hosts, is still touched with the feeling of our 
infirmities; this same Jesus comes with all the sympa- 
thies and affections of his glorified humanity, with 
the same gentleness of spirit and ineffable tenderness 
of heart that marked his earthly life; he it is into 
whose face we are to look, and bv whom we are to 
be judged. Ah. he knows our frame, he remembers 
that we are dust. We will not dread his coming, 
but will wait and watch for him as our dearest, truest 
friend. 

He " shall so come in like manner." He ascended 
to heaven openly: not in the presence of the multi- 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 373 

tude, but of a sufficient number of competent and 
trustworthy witnesses; the same witnesses on whose 
testimony we accept as genuine the narrative of his 
life. They were looking upon him and listening to 
his words of blessing when he was taken up into 
heaven. They saw his ascension with their bodily 
eyes. So when he comes a second time, it shall not 
be a spiritual appearing simply; nor an appearing 
only to his disciples; but it will be a visible manifesta- 
tion of the Son of Man to our bodily eyes, and a 
manifestation to all the world. " Every eye shall see 
him, and they also which pierced him: and all kin- 
dreds of the earth shall wail because of him." His 
descent to earth will be as literal as his ascent to 
heaven, and while a few faithful ones witnessed the 
latter every individual of every nation, tribe, and 
tongue shall witness the former. 

" A cloud received him out of their sight." A 
cloud guided the Israelites in their wanderings 
through the desert on their march to the promised 
land. In the day it protected them from the heat of 
the sun; in the night it was as a pillar of fire giving 
them light. When the tabernacle was consecrated 
the cloud entered into it and filled its courts. So 
also when the temple was dedicated. This cloud was 
the symbol of the Divine presence. It enfolded the 
Divine glory and thus accommodated it to the weak- 
ness of human vision. On the Mount of Transfigura- 
tion " a bright cloud overshadowed them " and God 



374- 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



spoke to them out of the cloud. In the Old Testa- 
ment this cloud is called " the glory of the Lord," 
and in the New, " the excellent glory/' Now that 
the Son is returning in his humanity to heaven it re- 
appears, enwraps him in its folds and hides his glory 
from the gaze of the disciples. As he thus ascended 
in a cloud so a cloud shall be his chariot when he re- 
turns. When on trial before the high priest he said, 
" Ye shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds 
of heaven." and John says, " Behold, he cometh with 
clouds." Xot such cloud as is produced by natural 
causes and floats in the atmosphere near the earth's 
surface,, but a cloud supernaturally provided for this 
august occasion. 

The Psalmist says. " God is gone up with a shout, 
the Lord with the sound of a trumpet." David's 
removal of the Ark to Mount Zion and the Psalm 
which he composed for use on that occasion has been 
interpreted spiritually and applied to the ascension of 
Christ. Xo doubt there was a great company of 
angels waiting to receive him as he ascended from 
the earth. "We know that they were interested in 
his work on earth. When he was born one of their 
number announced the glad tidings to the shep- 
herds, and a multitude of them sang in the hearing 
of men, " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth 
peace, good will to men." Often during his minis- 
try they were around about him and ministered unto 
him. So it was immediately after his 'temptation in 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 375 

the wilderness; and in the last conflict, that hour of 
the power of darkness in the Garden of Gethsemane, 
when his humanity could bear nothing more without 
external help, and he lay upon the ground in an 
agony of sorrow and suffering, " there appeared unto 
him an angel strengthening him " — a creature speak- 
ing words of cheer and comfort to the Son of God, 
the Creator! And surely an angel never sped away 
on gladder wing than when commissioned to roll 
back the stone from the door of the tomb and remain 
there as the first witness to proclaim a risen Lord. 

Now that the battle has been fought and the vic- 
tory won, and he is returning as a mighty conqueror 
to his throne, a multitude of angels attend him, and 
as they approach the portals of the Eternal City, they 
cry " Lift up your heads, Oh ye gates; and be ye lifted 
up ye everlasting doors arid the King of Glory shall 
come in. Who is this King of Glory? the Lord 
strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. He 
is the King of Glory." There was a great shout on 
that day when coming from Bethany he made his 
triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The people cried, 
" Hosanna to the son of David : blessed is he that 
cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the 
highest." And the little children caught the enthu- 
siasm of the hour and took up the cry, "Hosanna 
to the son of David." But what is all this when 
compared with the shout of heaven's unnumbered 
hosts when he passed through the gates of pearl 



376 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 



and ascended his throne. It was a great wonder in 
heaven. As much as the unfallen ones had seen of 
the wisdom and power and goodness of God they 
had never witnessed anything like tins — a being in 
human form from our little earth at the head of the 
armies of heaven, and ascending the throne of the 
universe ! The stages through which he had passed 
in his redeeming work, his victor}* over death and 
hell, and his triumphant return was to them a new 
and wondrous manifestation of " the manifold wis- 
dom of God." Xo wonder there was a great shout 
and a great joy in heaven. 

When he comes again. Paul says, he li shall 
descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of 
the archangel, and the trump of God." Heaven has 
been watching with deepest interest the conflict on 
earth. It has noted the various steps in the develop- 
ment of the Kingdom of God here, and has often 
rejoiced over the victories of the Cross. The time 
has now come for the consummation of all things and 
the final achievement of redeeming love. He has 
been reigning through the ages, and has reigned 
until he has put down all authority and rule and 
power. He comes now to give the finishing touch 
to his work, to complete the overthrow of his adver- 
saries, glorify his redeemed and put the monster, 
death, under his feet forever. " The last enemy that 
shall be destroyed is death." All heaven is thrilling 
with expectation and eager for the celebration of his 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 3JJ 



final triumph. There is a shout such as heaven never 
heard before as he ascends his chariot, wraps the 
clouds about him, and begins his descent to earth. 
Thousands on thousands of angels, those ministers 
of his that dQ his pleasure, compose his glorious reti- 
nue. As they come they shout, " Worthy is the 
Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, 
and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and 
blessing." And all the saints that are alive and re- 
main, when they see their Lord at hand will shout as 
never before. And all those who sleep in Jesus will 
rise up from their graves and shout, " Victory ! Vic- 
tory! Victory! O Death, where is thy sting; O 
grave, where is thy victory." "And every creature 
which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the 
earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in 
them," will join in the mighty acclaim, " Blessing, 
and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that 
sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever." 
And the echoes of that shout will ring on, and still 
on, until they reach the outposts of the universe- 
He shall come with a shout. 

O what are the most splendid pageants of this 
world compared with this second coming and tri- 
umph of the Son of Man? Only look for a moment, 
with the eye of faith, or, if you have no faith, with the 
eye of your imagination. We know not the exact 
starting point of his descent, but believe it to be the 

central point of God's empire, wherever that may be. 
24 



3j8 True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

Though he may move with the swiftness of the light, 
we may well conceive that his earthward journey will 
require appreciable time. Yonder is an astronomer 
in his observatory sweeping the heavens with his tele- 
scope. Presently he discovers far away, beyond the 
reach of human vision, an unusual appearance. He 
does not know what it is. He never before saw any- 
thing like it in the heavens. Every instant it grows 
brighter. He touches the key of his instrument and 
notifies a brother astronomer, and another, and an- 
other. Meanwhile it grows brighter and brighter, 
and they say that at the present rate of approach and 
of increasing brightness it will be seen at such a time 
with the naked eye. Men begin to look. Myriads 
of eyes are turned heavenwards, and in myriads of 
hearts there is already a presentiment of what it 
means. Still it grows brighter, and brighter; and 
now we ourselves behold it rushing down with the 
speed of the lightning. As it comes within our sys- 
tem the sun pales into darkness, and the moon and 
stars hide their faces. It reaches its appointed place. 
The cloud unfolds itself. There is the great white 
throne. On it we recognize the Son of Man. All 
majesty and glory are his, but all tenderness and 
compassion too. 

And now all the nations of all the ages are gathered 
before him. " I saw the dead, small and great, stand 
before God; and the books were opened: and another 
book was opened, which is the book of life : and the 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. jjg 

dead were judged out of those things which were 
written in the books according to their works. And 
the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death 
and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: 
and they were judged every man according to their 
works." It will not be a judgment of men in the 
mass, but will be individual — every man, in his own 
personality, and as if he were the only man in exis- 
tence, shall give account of himself to God. He will 
not be in a hurry or impatient to conclude this solemn 
assize. He will take care that every child of man 
shall receive his due reward. He is the righteous 
Judge, and no being in the universe shall impute 
unrighteousness to him. 

The searching scrutiny of human character and life 
completed, the sentence follows. Stretching forth 
his hands towards his own, in tones tremulous with 
unutterable love and joy, he says, " Come, ye blessed 
of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you 
from the foundation of the world." If we can con- 
ceive wrath on such a face as his, what awful terrible- 
ness it gathers as he turns to those on the left hand 
and says, " Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlast- 
ing fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." These 
are not empty words. For the redeemed they mean 
more of blessedness and glory, and for the damned 
more of wretchedness and woe, than it has ever en- 
tered into their hearts to conceive. No sooner will 
they fall from the lips of the Judge than will they be 



j8o True Heroism and Other Sermons. 

put into execution. There will be no need of an- 
gelic armies to enforce them. They are the words 
of the Eternal Son, and lodged in them is an om- 
nific energy. To say and to do are alike to him. 
To fail of life eternal, or of the despair of an endless 
hell, when he shall have uttered the final word, is as 
impossible as that he should cease to be " God over 
all, blessed forevermore." 

We know not when these things shall be. The 
angels in heaven do not know. It is simply a waste 
of time for men to attempt by interpretation of pro- 
phecy or the reading of symbolic numbers to deter- 
mine the time of the end. Speculation on a theme 
expressly hidden in the counsels of God is sheer pre- 
sumption. 

To his disciples he said, " This gospel of the king- 
dom shall be preached in all the world for a witness 
unto all nations; and then shall the end come." We 
know that the present century has been characterized 
by great missionary activity, and that the gospel has 
been rapidly spreading its way east and west, north 
and south, over the nations of the earth. It is not 
said by any means that all the nations, or all individ- 
uals, or every family, or community shall receive the 
word and be converted; but the word is to be 
preached; and when it is preached everywhere, we 
are to look for the end. In view of the wide- 
spread and growing interest in the world's evan- 
gelization, and the rapid progress of the work, 



True Heroism and Other Sermons. 38* 

some conclude that it is on the eve of complete 
accomplishment. But we know not. Hindrances 
may arise of which we now have no conception. Cor- 
ruptions may creep into the Church. Her spiritual 
life may decline. She may say with Laodicea, " I 
am rich, and increased in goods, and have need of 
nothing," and settle down in self-complacent ease 
and security, and lose her aggressive power. God 
forbid that these things should ever come to pass. 
But they may; and their possibility introduces an ele- 
ment of contingency that renders worthless any cal- 
culations as to the time of the end. We know not. 
It may be near; or it may be ages in the future. But 
one thing we do know : " The day of the Lord so 
cometh as a thief in the night." Are we ready? 
We know neither the day, nor the hour when he 
shall say, " Give account of thy stewardship." How 
stands our account? 



The Last Sermon." 



" Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see 
the Lord." — Heb. xii, 14. 

Follow after charity — Most earnestly labor to be 
put in possession of that love which beareth, be- 
lieveth. hopeth, endureth all things. May be diffi- 
cult to acquire, difficult to retain, but essential , to 
present peace and eternal happiness. 

Follow peace, &c. — Pursue peace with same care, 
attention, diligence as beasts do their game. Or, 
as a man pursues his calling — constantly, diligently 
and with pleasure. 

1. Among ourselves. 

2. With all men. 

And holiness — 

1. What is holiness? 

Lessons: Psalm exxii; Ephesians vi, 11-20. 
Hymns: 425, 426, 857. 



*This brief outline is all that can be found of this, the last public utterance 
of Dr. Sledd. It was delivered in Main-Street church, Danville, Va., on the 20th 
of April, 1S99, and is here published, just as found, at the request of members of 
his congregation, in tender and loving memory of the hallowed face and the 
voice that is still. 

[382] 



Biographical Sketch. 

By BISHOP J. C. GRANBERRY. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



Dr. Sledd had turned over these sermons to the publisher; 
but his children arrested the publication that a memoir of their 
father might be offered. At their request I write it, being 
fitted for the task by the long acquaintance and warm af- 
fection which existed between us. We met first at Randolph- 
Macon College during the session of 1853-'54, when he was 
a matriculate and I the preacher in charge. The next year 
I rejoiced in his conversion, and received him into the church. 
We met last in Nashville, Tenn., as members of the Board of 
Missions, less than a fortnight before his entrance into ever- 
lasting life. Strong and tender ties bound us together through 
the intervening period. 

Consistency marked the man. He traveled a straight path 
with an even gait. " The child was father of the man." 
From birth to burial he was a Methodist. When at his bap- 
tism his parents named him Robert Newton, they probably 
prayed that he might share the spirit and ministry of that 
distinguished Wesleyan; certainly they set before their son 
a noble model. Their house was a home and preaching place 
for our itinerants. As soon as he was ready by age and ac- 
quirements, they sent him to the college of their own Church, 
to be trained and furnished. Wise and faithful parents! 
Forty-four years he was a devoted member of that Church; 
forty-two of those years were spent in the regular work of the 
ministry in the Virginia Conference. 

He was born in Powhatan county, Va., December 13, 1833. 
The silence and seclusion of those rural scenes suited and 
fostered his quiet, meditative spirit. Love for the home of his 
childhood and youth clung to him all his days. During his 

[385] 



jS6 



Biographical Sketch. 



long and laborious ministry he scarcely took any recreation, 
except to spend a month of the summer at the farm-house, 
some miles away from the shriek and smoke of the steam- 
engine. Near that house he one year ago laid to rest his be- 
loved wife, Fanny Carey Sledd; and by her side we placed 
him May 17, 1899, to sleep in his native soil and amid his kin 
until the resurrection. His heart, like Goldsmith's, was 
untraveled to the end. 

Eighteen hundred and fifty-five was an eventful year to Dr. 
Sledd. He had lived twenty-one years; that year he was 
born of the Spirit; joined the church, was graduated by the 
college, and married to Miss Green. Even before his conver- 
sion he was sedate, moral, studious, thoughtful; from the 
day he assumed the vows of church-membership, no incon- 
sistency was charged against him, so far as I have ever heard. 
He had a high standing in his classes, and excelled in grace 
and vigor as a writer and speaker. 

If my memory does not deceive me, he taught a private 
school one year, and then spent some months at his Alma 
Mater in biblical studies under the direction of Dr. W. A. 
Smith, the president. November, 1857, he was one of sixteen 
candidates admitted on trial into the traveling connection by 
the Virginia Conference. The first year he was stationed at 
Suffolk; his second and third years he traveled Albemarle, 
his only circuit; he spent eight years in each of four cities — 
Petersburg, Lynchburg, Norfolk, and Richmond; two years 
he was presiding elder of Richmond District; he was in the 
third year of his pastorate in Danville when it pleased God 
to say to His servant, " Come up higher." 

Tall and spare, never robust, he did hard, continuous, and 
effective work. He was conscientious, diligent, painstaking, 
in the full round of his duties. He wasted no time by sloth, 
or trifling, or lack of method. He read much, with wise se- 
lection, not hurriedly, nor by spurts, but with such system and 
persistence as to master the contents, and keep them in per- 
petual possession. He enriched his mind with knowledge, 
stimulated his own powers by communion with great thinkers, 



Biographical Sketch. 



387 



and wrought out his sermons of seasoned material and with 
patient skill. I rarely had an opportunity to hear him, but 
my impression is that few preachers failed altogether, or fell 
below a good average, less frequently than he. At times he 
rose to great altitudes. There was nothing sensational, 
tricky, meretricious, in his style. In doctrine he was ortho- 
dox, of the Wesleyan school; in composition, solid, orderly, 
chaste, lucid, and impressive; in delivery, dignified, easy, 
graceful, with a clear and pleasing voice, and neither excess 
nor lack of gestures. He often became very much animated — 
impassioned would perhaps be too strong a word; then his 
face shone, his tones rang out like a trumpet, he threw his 
whole soul into his action, the congregation were stirred and 
swayed at his will. He had a fruitful ministry; sinners were 
saved, and churches were built up, by his labors. 

He was not less eminent in the pastoral function than in the 
pulpit. He had the art, or rather the heart, to identify him- 
self fully with the charge over which he was appointed. They 
were his flock, and he guided, guarded, and fed them with con- 
stant solicitude and pleasure. That church was for the time 
the world to him. Care for their souls was compounded of a 
sense of responsibility and a loving interest in their welfare. 
Though not of a highly social disposition, he diligently and 
systematically visited his people, and sought their good as 
families and individuals. They, in response, held him in 
honor, confidence, and affection, and his influence over them 
was mighty and lasting. Only once I followed him as a pas- 
tor, and then after an interval of four years, and those the 
years of terrible war; but I was deeply impressed by the hold 
he still had on their hearts and the permanence of his good 
work, which the disasters of battles, siege, and surrender could 
not efface. In riper years he widened the sphere of his 
labors, and led in movements beyond the limits of his own pas- 
toral charge. With great judgment, energy, and zeal, while 
pastor of Granby-Street Station, he projected, and with the 
liberal aid of his own congregation, established, two or more 
churches in Norfolk, which are now independent and flourish- 



388 



Biographical Sketch. 



ing charges, and noble monuments to preserve his memory. 
In 1884 he was elected president of the Virginia Conference 
Board of Missions, and continued in that office until his death. 
It was not a perfunctory service he rendered, as is shown in 
the advance of collections for domestic missions during his 
administration. In 1884 the amounts raised were — in churches, 
$5,620; in Sunday schools, $515. In 1898— in churches, $9,041; 
in Sunday schools, $783. 

Dr. Sledd was reserved and reticent, but neither morose nor 
austere. Two well poised to be shy, he was modest and re- 
tiring; never obtrusive, but always approachable, enjoying 
conversation, though seldom leading it; with more feeling than 
he expressed. He was thoroughly sincere: what he said came 
from his heart. At the sessions of his Conference he was 
usually a silent but felt force. His brethren respected his 
character and judgment, and on any disputed question would 
gladly have him on their side, not merely for his vote, but 
for the weight of his influence, and also to make themselves 
more certain that they were in the right. He was firm in his 
convictions, and did not trim to catch the popular breeze; 
but he did not provoke antagonisms, nor belong to any 
coteries for the purpose of determining lines of policy. 

He was vice-president of the Board of Trustees of Ran- 
dolph-Macon College, and also of the General Board of Mis- 
sions. He served in six General Conferences, from 1878 to 1898. 
In 1890 he was appointed by the College of Bishops, under the 
action of the General Conference, the fraternal delegate of our 
Church to the Methodist Church in Canada, and discharged 
his office to the satisfaction of both communions. In that 
year, out of 270 votes, he received 91 for the office of bishop; 
a large number in view of the fact that he had been brought 
so little before the eye of the Church beyond the bounds of his 
own Conference. 

Sudden and violent sickness seized him on his homeward 
route. Stopping at Atlanta, he went first to a hotel and 
afterward to Grady Hospital. Telegrams soon brought to his 
bedside several of his children. He received 'all possible at- 



Biographical Sketch. 



tendon from physicians, ministers, and friends. But skill 
and love did not avail; on the morning of May 15th he passed 
from labor and pain to rest and reward. The next day, at the 
quiet hour of the setting sun, a sorrowful congregation 
crowded Main-Street church, Danville, Va.; among them many 
ministers of his own and other denominations. Drs. White- 
head and Tudor and myself conducted the service, and made 
brief remarks. May 17th Dr. Tudor and I read the service at 
the grave, in Powhatan, in the presence of his children, his 
kindred, official members of his church, and citizens of the 
county. A pillar had fallen, graceful, stately, strong. 

" He, being dead, yet speaketh." Far better than this tribute 
of friendship, these sermons express him, and prolong his use- 
ful ministry. Into them he put his faith, his heart, his one 
purpose, himself. Those who sat under his instructions will 
seem, as they read, to see the familiar form and face, and 
hear the very tones of his voice; for photograph and phono- 
graph cannot reproduce the dead with such life-like fidelity 
as a loving memory. Those who did not know him in the 
flesh may look upon his spiritual lineaments in this volume, 
and derive stimulus and edification from his wise and heart- 
felt words. " Whose faith follow, considering the end of their 
conversation; Jesus Christ the same yesterday, to-day, and 
forever." 

Ashland, Va., May 29, 1899. 



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